EXCLUSIVE: A recent analysis from a conservative think tank suggests that artificial intelligence represents a new “cold war” battleground between the United States and China.

The study by the Center for Security Policy argues that AI is emerging as the defining conflict of the 21st century, cautioning that the Chinese Communist Party is on the brink of leading the world in this field. The report stresses that if China achieves its ambition of AI supremacy by 2030, it could demote the United States to a “second-rate power or worse.”

The report emphasizes, “The sole and immediate threat to American superiority in AI comes from the People’s Republic of China. The race for dominance in AI will be decided within the next five years, posing an existential challenge to the future standing of the United States and the global community.”

Maintaining American leadership in AI is crucial, the report argues, due to the “risks” associated with the CCP assuming a commanding role in technology.

National flags of the United States and China are displayed at the Fairmont Peace Hotel on April 25, 2024, in Shanghai, China. (Wang Gang/VCG via Getty Images)

The report explains that while AI designed in America typically aligns with moral guardrails, that wouldn’t necessarily be the same with China, adding that the CCP’s ethics are “constructed to maintain ideological purity, discipline, and legitimacy as the Party leadership requires, and are not based in a transcendent or immutable moral philosophy.”

If China becomes the world’s leader in AI, the report states that the CCP could be “positioning itself to dictate technology standards worldwide.”

“American and other Western companies will be pressured or compelled to adapt their technologies to those developed under the CCP’s sponsorship instead of the other way around,” the report’s author states.

The report comes as Secretary of State Marco Rubio reaffirmed the United State’s support for Taiwan, which China has threatened to invade.

“I don’t think you’re going to see some trade deal where, if what people are worried about is we’re going to get some trade deal, or we’re going to get favorable treatment on trade in exchange for walking away from Taiwan,” Rubio said. “No one is contemplating that.”

The report also states that if the CCP can “flood the world market” with cheap and high-quality AI, China could drive American companies out of business.

Even worse, the report says China will use AI to increase its military power in a way that would challenge America’s world dominance.

“CCP advancements in AI will challenge the US across all domains, spanning autonomous weapons, high-speed battlespace decision making, and deep integration of civilian innovation into the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) arsenal,” the report states. “The CCP has mastered technology to deploy as drones, robotic vehicles, and robotic dogs in swarms to track and destroy targets with minimal human intervention. Humanoid combat robots, which the CCP calls ‘supersoldiers,’ are in their early stages but are also designed to operate in swarms.”

New recruits of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) attend a send-off ceremony at a railway station in Ganzhou, Jiangxi province, China March 16, 2023.  (China Daily via REUTERS )

Center for Security Policy Senior Analyst J. Michael Waller, the report’s author, told Fox News Digital that America is at risk of losing “everything” if it allows China to get ahead on AI.

“If we allow China to become dominant in AI, we lose everything. They control the elements, the physical elements needed to create the hardware to run AI. If they’re able to dominate the market worldwide, set the worldwide standards, then we end up working for the Chinese Communist Party,” he said.

The Pentagon building in Arlington, Virginia, on Friday, April 21, 2023.  (Tom Brenner/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Waller said the national security implications of China becoming the world’s leader in AI would be “beyond anything we’ve ever imagined before.”

“Imagine having an artificial intelligence system that tells us what we need to know, tells us how to think, does the reasoning for us, and then does the reasoning for machines,” Waller said.