Commentators urge international safeguards, highlighting mounting fears over global AI competition and uneven benefits from rapid technology adoption.
Amid global concern over the rapid evolution of AI, thought leaders and experts are warning that intensifying competition among nations could have destabilizing and dangerous consequences.
In a recent op-ed for the Financial Times, US diplomat and China-expert Julian Gewirtz has cautioned that the intensifying global AI rivalry is a dangerous game, highlighting fears that sudden advances by the two major powers could fuel mistrust, spur arms races, and raise the risk of conflict.
Gewirtz’s concerns were echoed in Foreign Policy, where the former senior director (China / Taiwan affairs) in the White House National Security Council had argued that a lack of international cooperation around AI development risks undermining both global stability and prospects for diplomatic crisis management. Although Gewirtz noted that — under specific circumstances — AI could theoretically encourage less aggressive decision-making than humans during crises, he emphasized the overall peril of unchecked technological rivalry.
These warnings follow President Donald Trump’s recent unveiling of a new AI Action Plan, which has drawn mixed reactions across expert circles. As reported in the Financial Times and Foreign Policy, while some commentators praise the administration’s drive to establish US leadership in AI, many caution that the plan prioritizes deregulation and swift deployment at significant cost.
Critics, including civil society groups cited in Foreign Policy, argue that the plan sidesteps safety measures, neglects issues of AI bias and civil rights, and threatens to cement the power of the tech industry while limiting public oversight. Their concerns center on the risk that an accelerated US push could escalate an AI arms race, entrench global inequalities, and diminish the ability of vulnerable populations to benefit from emergent AI technologies.
Commentary in other news outlets have highlighted a growing consensus that framing AI as a zero-sum geopolitical contest exacerbates international risks and could destabilize global order.
Experts and policymakers are urging the all nations to pursue robust international safeguards and new frameworks to ensure that AI serves broad human welfare rather than deepening rivalries or triggering accidental escalation.
