AI and the International Relations of the Future

As artificial intelligence continues to evolve, it is having profound impact on a range of sectors seemingly unrelated to it, such as international relations. Some countries are pursuing AI more or less within the confines of international law and generally accepted principles of doing business, while others are choosing to do what is necessary to attempt to achieve AI supremacy outside those boundaries. In the process, AI is slowly altering the balance of power between global actors and among alliances in a number of ways. Just as becoming adept in the cyber arena levels the playing field – giving countries such as Iran and North Korea the ability to go head to head with China, Russia and that US in cyber space – the pursuit of AI supremacy is providing an increased competitive edge in international business to some smaller, otherwise less competitive nations, enhancing their ability to secure preferential trade and investment arrangements with other countries, raising their global profile, and enabling them to progress into previously unimagined areas of international trade, investment, and diplomacy. How AI is deployed by governments can have serious consequences in international relations, particularly if a given government has unusual capabilities in the AI arena.