AI governance and geopolitics
Who will control AI?
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There have been continuous discussions about the AI Act and how each country or region is planning to regulate and govern AI. However, we are facing a new technological challenge that does not respect national borders. We should also focus on coordinated global efforts to make sure the whole planet is on board.
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I have recently read a very interesting piece covering AI governance and geopolitics issues, written by Ian Bremmer and Mustafa Suleyman: “The AI Power Paradox. Can States Learn to Govern Artificial Intelligence — Before It’s Too Late?” Here is a quote:
“Like past technological waves, AI will pair extraordinary growth and opportunity with immense disruption and risk. But unlike previous waves, it will also initiate a seismic shift in the structure and balance of global power as it threatens the status of nation-states as the world’s primary geopolitical actors. Whether they admit it or not, AI’s creators are themselves geopolitical actors, and their sovereignty over AI further entrenches the emerging “technopolar” order — one in which technology companies wield the kind of power in their domains once reserved for nation-states.”
They discuss the size and breadth of the global AI governance challenge and propose an approach called “technoprudentialism,” which is aligned with other paradigms in international law that aim at identifying and mitigating risk from a global perspective.
It is unclear to me, however, if the proposed approach works in practice and how we can build a global framework in which:
a) tech companies work together with governments and are held accountable at the global political stage; and
b) countries mitigate risk collectively when there is so much competition, the economic stakes are so high, and AI development is concentrated in the hands of tech companies.
There are all sorts of alliances being formed, but is still unclear how AI governance and regulation will end up consolidated.
This is a well-written piece, and anyone interested in diving deeper into geopolitical waters should read it.
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