AI Governance in the Age of Geopolitical Competition

The Future of AI Technologies Governance

The uncertainty and complexity that characterizes the geopolitical competition over these digital technologies is compounded by the fact that we sit at the cusp of another technological revolution. The revolution in AI systems may occur at an even faster pace than the development and adoption of the Internet. AI technologies could be powerful tools for expanding knowledge, increasing prosperity and productivity, and addressing global challenges, and AI tools may help advance the seventeen UN SDGs. AI applications have the further potential to improve many aspects of citizens’ lives including food security, health applications, good governance and democratic consolidation, and natural disaster preparedness and prevention.

The rapid growth of AI technology, however, comes with the significant risk that its use may exacerbate inequality and economic instability, stifle competition, cause consumer harm, aggravate discrimination and bias, invade privacy, enhance malicious cyber activity, and improve authoritarian capabilities for surveillance and repression. AI will challenge how we compensate for the uses of intellectual property as well as authenticate, label, or detect synthetic content. AI may also require workforce adaptations across economies; the rising energy demands of high-end AI chips and data centers could become a significant barrier to developing local capabilities.

Further, state and non-state actors have been observed using generative AI systems for malicious purposes, including to manipulate and disseminate disinformation at speed and scale. Many AI technologies are also dual use, lending themselves to new military and national security capabilities that may lack appropriate human rights and civil liberty protections and other safeguards. AI can advantage both the attacker and defender in cyberspace, and the systems themselves are subject to data poisoning and other types of malicious activities.

The question of how to balance risk and rewards looms large for governments and civil society around the world. The United States is working with allies and partners to move quickly to address the ways in which artificial intelligence can potentially destabilize societies while preserving its benefits—and, crucially, staying true to democratic values and protecting human rights. A critical part of this work is not only safeguarding an open and independent research environment but also partnering with emerging economies in the development and deployment of AI technologies. Helping to provide unrestricted access to an open, interoperable, reliable, and secure Internet while demonstrating how AI can serve a shared agenda across the globe can help reduce the risk that the AI revolution will contribute to global instability and diminish our ability to address global challenges.