2024/10/23 by Swati Srivastava, Srivastava, Swati, Justin B. Bullock +1 · 4 citations
Physics and Astronomy · Social Sciences · #Artificial Intelligence (cs.AI) #Cybersecurity and Cyber Warfare Studies #FOS: Computer and information sciences #Space exploration and regulation
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2410.17481
openalex publication_date 2024/10/23 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
This essay examines how Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems are becoming more integral to international affairs by affecting how global governors exert power and pursue digital sovereignty. We first introduce a taxonomy of multifaceted AI payoffs for governments and corporations related to instrumental, structural, and discursive power in the domains of violence, markets, and rights. We next leverage different institutional and practice perspectives on sovereignty to assess how digital sovereignty is variously implicated in AI-empowered global governance. States both seek sovereign control over AI infrastructures in the institutional approach, while establishing sovereign competence through AI infrastructures in the practice approach. Overall, we present the digital sovereignty stakes of AI as related to entanglements of public and private power. Rather than foreseeing technology companies as replacing states, we argue that AI systems will embed in global governance to create dueling dynamics of public/private cooperation and contestation. We conclude with sketching future directions for IR research on AI and global governance.