AI: Geopolitics

Is AI an existential threat requiring global cooperation, or a strategic race America must win to preserve freedom?

Published 4 days ago

#Artificial Intelligence

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Above: U.S. President Donald Trump greets Chinese President Xi Jinping ahead of a bilateral meeting at Gimhae Air Base on Oct. 30, 2025 in Busan, South Korea. Image credit: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

The Spin

Pro-establishment narrative

The AI race will determine which nation shapes the world's global trajectory and the future of international order. American leadership in AI is essential to preserving democratic governance, open markets and individual rights against authoritarian alternatives. Maintaining this edge requires coordinated federal investment, strengthened partnerships and strategic alliances with democratic partners. Failure to lead risks ceding control of transformative technology to rivals whose values conflict with liberal democratic principles.

JSTOR Time

Establishment-critical narrative

Nations must reject zero-sum competition in favor of international cooperation, as the pursuit of AI supremacy risks catastrophic outcomes for all humanity. As AI systems advance toward human-level intelligence, systems have begun demonstrating self-preserving behaviors while safety mechanisms remain inadequate. History has shown repeatedly that frontier technologies posing existential risk demand collective action rather than rivalry. Ultimately, it will not matter which nation wins the AI race if the world is not there to see it.

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Pro-China narrative

It's already clear that China is set to win the AI race for several reasons. China has the people, the will and the type of system that will excel at placing the country's best and brightest in AI research, and what they've already been able to accomplish has been astounding. Deepseek is already looking to be the most successful AI system created so far, and U.S. AI companies will increasingly struggle to keep up.

The Straits Times

Cynical narrative

Though the media and government across the world are making endless noise about the AI race, the most likely outcome is AI polarization. Indeed, Washington and Beijing will likely each emerge as leaders in different parts of the AI ecosystem as opposed to one side decisively "beating" the other across the board.

Foreign Affairs