Artificial Intelligence and Redrawing the Map of Global Power

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In my article published on October 4, entitled “Artificial Intelligence: From the Technology Race to the Risk Race,” I discussed the transformation that artificial intelligence imposes on the nature of the risks facing countries and societies, from cyber and information security to the economy and national security. However, this transformation opens another question that is no less important: How will artificial intelligence affect the sources of power itself, and who will have the ability to produce, develop, and operate it on a large scale?

Artificial intelligence goes beyond being a new technological revolution, to become a factor that reshapes economic and strategic power in the international system. With the rise of advanced computing, chips, data, energy, and scientific capabilities as interconnected elements, the ability of countries and companies to compete and influence will change, as will the rules for distributing international influence in the coming decades.

The importance of artificial intelligence lies in the fact that it not only adds a new sector to the global economy, but also reorganizes existing sectors around it. Advanced chips require highly complex supply chains, data centers require huge amounts of electricity, and advanced models require data, computing, and scientific talent. Thus, an integrated power system is formed, and control over its main links becomes a source of influence that exceeds its direct commercial value.

This explains the intense competition between the United States and China. The conflict is not only about who produces the most advanced models, but rather about who possesses the elements of the system that make the production of these models possible. Therefore, advanced chips, manufacturing equipment, computational capabilities, data centers, and energy have become elements in countries' strategic calculations. Restrictions on the export of advanced technology have also become a tool to influence a competitor's ability to build its technological independence, while in return these restrictions push the creation of alternative supply chains, which may lead to a more divided global technological system.

In this context, two concepts emerge that have become part of the discussion about national power: Digital Sovereignty and Technological Sovereignty. Digital sovereignty means the state's ability to control its data, its digital structure, and the platforms it relies on, and to set the rules governing their use, thus reducing the risks of complete dependence on external systems. Technological sovereignty relates to the state's ability to develop basic technology, adapt it, and produce an important part of its components. This does not mean closure or dispensing with international cooperation, but rather having national alternatives and options that prevent dependence from turning into dependency.

The matter becomes more complicated with the rise of major companies to a new position within the international system. A limited number of them have become more powerful than the countries themselves after they have come to possess enormous capabilities in computing, data, scientific research, and capital, giving them influence in the course of global technology that goes beyond the traditional role of companies. Here a new equation of power emerges: the state possesses political sovereignty, while companies own an increasing part of the structure that determines economic and technological capacity. If governments become overly dependent on foreign companies for data, computing, or digital infrastructure, this could effectively weaken aspects of their digital and technological sovereignty.

This shift extends directly to national security. Artificial intelligence changes the nature of intelligence, information analysis, cyber warfare, and some military applications, and also accelerates the transition from information collection to decision-making. In an environment where the period between knowing an opponent’s move and responding to it is short, superiority in analyzing and using data can become a factor influencing the balance of power, no less important than some elements of traditional military power.

Economically, the main issue is not only related to the jobs that could disappear, but rather who will receive the value that artificial intelligence will generate. If companies are able to increase production while relying on a smaller number of workers, the share of capital and technology in income may rise at the expense of the share of labor, unless education, rehabilitation, and social protection policies change. Hence, the strategic question is not whether artificial intelligence will raise productivity, but rather how its gains will be distributed within societies and between countries.

Developing countries face a more complex challenge. The next gap may not be between countries that use artificial intelligence and others that do not, but rather between countries that can develop and adapt it to their needs, and countries that are turning into markets for technology produced abroad. If the education, health, administration, and production sectors become increasingly dependent on foreign systems without possessing the capabilities, data, and structure necessary to understand and control them, a new form of dependency may emerge that affects economic independence and national decision-making ability.

Therefore, dealing with artificial intelligence as a technology file only would be a strategic mistake. What is required is to integrate it into the concept of national power, and link it to education, energy, industry, scientific research, and economic and national security, while building real capabilities in digital sovereignty and technological sovereignty. Every country does not need to compete with the major powers in building the largest models, but rather to possess the capabilities that prevent it from becoming a permanent consumer of technology and knowledge produced by others.

Artificial intelligence not only changes the tools of power, but also changes the conditions for possessing them. Countries that produce the knowledge and infrastructure necessary for it will enhance their position and influence, while countries that are content with purchasing it may find themselves more dependent on others in sectors that affect their economy, security, and decision-making ability. Therefore, the artificial intelligence race is, in essence, a race for status, sovereignty, power, wealth and influence in the new international order.

Quoted from “Al-Masry Al-Youm”