Britain risks losing the battle for the future to tech-savvy China and Russia without a shot if it doesn't adapt, a senior military leader warned.

General Sir Patrick Sanders, 54, who oversees cybernetics, special forces, and intelligence as head of Strategic Command, said the UK faced a benchmark when it left the European Union.

Britain needs to fight back in the so-called gray zone, the zone between peace and war, he said, and focus more on algorithms and cyberspace rather than the size of the military and conventional weapons.

In his publication in The Times, the general notes that artificial intelligence will be a modern deterrent for the state.