The Age of AI: And Our Human Future by Huttenlocher Daniel & Schmidt Eric & Kissinger Henry A

Author:Huttenlocher, Daniel & Schmidt, Eric & Kissinger, Henry A
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: John Murray Press
Published: 2021-11-15T16:00:00+00:00

Network Platforms and Geopolitics

The emerging geopolitics of network platforms comprises a key new aspect of international strategy — and governments are not the only players. Governments may increasingly seek to limit the use or behavior of such systems or attempt to prevent them from edging out homegrown rivals in important regions, lest a competing society or economy gain a powerful influence over that country’s industrial, economic, or (more difficult to define) political and cultural development. Yet because governments generally do not create or operate these network platforms, the actions of inventors, corporations, and individual users will shape the field along with government restrictions or incentives, creating a strategic arena that is particularly dynamic and difficult to predict. Further, a new form of cultural and political anxiety is being added to this already complex equation. In Beijing, Washington, and some European capitals, concern has been expressed (and articulated obliquely elsewhere) about the implications of conducting broad aspects of national economic and social life on network platforms facilitated by AI designed in other, potentially rival, countries. From this technological and policy ferment, new geopolitical configurations are being established.

The United States has given rise to a globe-spanning, technologically leading set of privately operated network platforms that rely increasingly on AI. The roots of this achievement lie in academic leadership at universities that attract top global talent, a start‑up ecosystem that enables participants to bring innovations rapidly to scale and profit from their developments, and government support of advanced R&D (through the National Science Foundation, DARPA, and other agencies). The prevalence of English as a global language, the creation of homegrown or US‑influenced technology standards, and the emergence of a substantial domestic base of individual and corporate customers all provide a favorable environment for US network platform operators. Some of these operators eschew government involvement and see their interests as primarily nonnational, while others have embraced government contracts and programs. Abroad, they are all increasingly being treated (often without distinction) as creations and representatives of the United States — although in many cases the US government’s role was confined to staying out of their way.

The United States has begun to view network platforms as an aspect of international strategy, restricting the domestic activities of some foreign platforms and restricting the export of some software and technology that could facilitate the growth of foreign competitors. At the same time, federal and state regulators have identified major domestic network platforms as targets for antitrust actions. In the near term, at least, this simultaneous drive for strategic preeminence and domestic multiplicity may push US development in conflicting directions.

China has similarly supported the development of network platforms that are already global in scale, but, at the same time, are poised to expand even further. While Beijing’s regulatory approach has encouraged fierce competition among domestic technology players (with global markets as the ultimate goal), it has largely excluded (or mandated heavily tailored offerings by) non-Chinese counterparts within China’s borders. In recent years, Beijing has also taken steps to shape

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