Digital Geopolitical Competition in the Age of Artificial Intelligence: The Visions of the United States, China, and the European Union

Abstract

The paper aims to discuss how the geopolitical competition related to Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be portrayed through the development of different visions, discursive practices, and definitions. The paper is focused on three actors – China, the EU, and the US – which remain the most active in pursuing their visions and global ambitions with respect to AI development. By employing discourse analysis, the key strategic AI documents of those actors so far released are discussed to reveal how these actors understand their role in the context of technological geopolitics, what challenges or opportunities they face, and what models of AI governance they construct. Futher comparison of received outcomes shows that mutual tensions have been developing, based on different understandings of AI governance as well as ambitions to be a global and dominant power. These tensions become noticeable through the lenses of digital cleavage, mainly related to establishing different regimes of digital democracy and digital autocracy. Though all three actors discuss common issues of ethics, standards, and cooperation, different definitions of these principles show the tendencies of growing future digital competition.