Recently, with the breakthrough of ChatGPT, the topic of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become the talk of the town and is a revolution without parallel in the world.
According to Andrew Ng, he calls artificial intelligence (AI) "the electricity of the 21st century". AI is on everyone's lips, and since the emergence of the Internet, artificial intelligence could captain the character of disruptive technology. For many years, this technology has been accompanying us in our routine and helping us in different tasks.
The advance of AI is evident, and the debate about this technology is growing. Above all, this debate focuses on the threats it could imply on the economic and political chessboard. Another debate centers on whether artificial intelligence should be regulated, as proposed by the EU. It is worth mentioning that the AI Act, the first law on artificial intelligence, was recently passed in the European Parliament. This article will shed some light on what AI is and its opportunities for different actors.
To understand the evolution of AI, a little retrospective is in order. The idea of "a machine that thinks" dates back to ancient Greece. However, we have to wait until 1950, when the British scientist Alan Turing published the article "Computing Machinery and Intelligence".
In this article, Turing proposes to answer this question "can machines think?" and introduces the Turing Test to determine whether a computer can demonstrate the same intelligence (or the results of the same intelligence) as a human. The value of the Turing Test has been the subject of debate ever since.
In 1956, Allen Newell, Herbert Simon, Marvin Minsky, Arthur Samuel and John McCarthy met at Dartmouth College. Following this meeting, they created the discipline of artificial intelligence out of nothing: they all believed that developing this capability and endowing machines with the ability to think would be easy.
Over the following decades, artificial intelligence would experience a boom. In 1967, Frank Rosenblatt created the Mark 1 Perceptron, the first computer based on a neural network that "learned" through trial and error. At the end of the 1990s, the Deep Blue system defeated the chess champion Garry Kasparov.
Photo 1: chess champion Garry Kasparov in front of the Deep Blue system. Source:https://cdn.britannica.com/62/71262-050-25BFC8AB/Garry-Kasparov-Deep-Blue-IBM-computer.jpg
In recent decades, artificial intelligence has evolved exponentially. In 2015, Baidu's Minwa supercomputer used for the first time a type of neural network to identify and categorize images more accurately than humans. Many experts in this discipline do not quite agree on the definition of AI, since, there is no agreement when it comes to defining what intelligence is.
According to Rovert Sternberg, a psychologist at Yale University, he defines intelligence as the mental activity that serves to adapt or shape environments relevant to new personal lives. This intelligence is composed of three types: componential intelligence, experiential intelligence and practical or contextual intelligence.
Artificial intelligence is a field that combines computer science and robust data sets to enable problem solving. It also encompasses the subfields of machine learning and deep learning. These disciplines are comprised of AI algorithms that seek to create expert systems that make predictions or classifications based on input data.
Artificial intelligence can be divided into a category according to its scope and scope of application:
Direct artificial intelligence: these systems are capable of solving very well-defined and bounded problems. Techniques such as machine or deep learning have been applied, for example, machine learning and game theory.
The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) is not only occurring in the academic and everyday environment, but this technology is set to change or modify the international chessboard. Different international players, such as the USA, China, the EU, among others, are aware of the potential of AI. The following graph shows the estimated investment until 2018 in this technology.
Figure 1: Estimated venture capital investments in artificial intelligence startups. Source: https://www.politicaexterior.com/articulo/geopolitica-la-inteligencia-artificial/
The United States, China and the EU, among other states, aspire to become world leaders in the development of artificial intelligence. Today, the United States and China form almost a duopoly in that field due to factors such as large markets, strong talent pool, policies to support innovation and entrepreneurship, and massive investments in R&D.
The UK, Canada and France, have ambitious global strategies and are making significant investments to become AI hubs.
Other countries, such as India, focus on specializing in a specific niche, namely testing specific national applications for the economic development of different countries.Australia's strategy is largely focused on sectoral adoption of AI, while Canada's is focused on scientific research and talent development.
This struggle goes beyond economic influence; it also applies in the military field. The US and China are investing in this technology for military applications and scientific research. AI has repercussions, above all, for shaping political speeches, political campaigns and in the media. It is worth mentioning that Democratic Congressman Jake Auchincloss was the first to deliver a speech written by artificial intelligence. In March 2023, fake Balenciaga-style photos of Pope Francis went viral.
The advance of artificial intelligence is becoming a strategic factor in international relations and geopolitics. The use of this technology could sharpen competition between powers and could be key in diplomacy and international politics. Beijing is using an AI-based diplomacy system to make strategic decisions.
Suggested readings:
Acebes, M. (2023) ¿Qué es la inteligencia artificial?, El Orden Mundial - EOM. Available at: https://elordenmundial.com/que-es-inteligencia-artificial/
Engler, A. (2022) The EU and U.S. are starting to align on AI Regulation, Brookings. Available at: https://www.brookings.edu/blog/techtank/2022/02/01/the-eu-and-u-s-are-starting-to-align-on-ai-regulation/
G. Rodríguez, A. (2021) Europa: El avance en lo digital a expensas de Asia Y EEUU, CIDOB. Available at: https://www.cidob.org/articulos/anuario_internacional_cidob/2021/europa_el_avance_en_lo_digital_a_expensas_de_asia_y_eeuu/(language)/esl-ES
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