The Leverage Middle Powers Have in the AI Race
Allied democracies can offer something U.S. industry desperately needs.
The rapidly evolving artificial intelligence (AI) landscape is creating a stark divide between "haves" and "have-nots" countries. The United States, in its bid to maintain global AI supremacy, has started restricting access to its most advanced AI systems to foreign entities, including close allies. This move has alarmed British officials, who have already begun assessing the economic and security implications of losing access to the latest models.
The United States' heavy investment in AI infrastructure, amounting to over $700 billion in a single year, is overwhelmingly directed towards domestic data centers. This concentration of AI computing power gives the U.S. a substantial lead over the rest of the world, with China being the closest competitor. As AI computing demands outstrip data center capacity, the U.S. government and private sector are increasingly rationing access to these resources.
This could potentially disadvantage non-American consumers, including those in European democracies wary of Chinese dependencies. However, foreign states possess their own leverage in this race. To support the U.S. AI industry's computational needs and ensure a steady supply of frontier AI systems, allied democracies can offer U.S. tech companies access to strategic data center sites.
In return, they can secure guaranteed access to U.S. AI systems. This mutually beneficial arrangement could help bridge the AI gap and ensure no country is left behind in this global race.
Written by urgent.news from Foreign Policy's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
