The artificial intelligence arms race: security, economic, and legal dimensions

Abstract

While we recognize that life on earth has changed and evolved over billions of years, we are now witnessing a new form of evolution — the evolution of machines and intelligent systems. The trajectory of artificial intelligence development is not fundamentally different from biological evolution; rather, it can be understood as a journey through time that begins with charles darwin’s ideas and extends to the current revolution in robotics and artificial intelligence.

This evolution has driven nations to compete in advancing ai technologies, not only in the military sphere but also in the economic and geopolitical domains. The rapid integration of ai into defense, intelligence, and economic sectors has intensified regional and international tensions, prompting most countries to allocate significant portions of their budgets to ai-based defense systems.

Technological dominance, which for a long time was a decisive factor in global power struggles, is now embodied in artificial intelligence. However, the pace of technological advancement is so overwhelming that nations struggle to comprehend or regulate it. As a result, we are witnessing the emergence of a hidden digital war characterized by data theft, manipulation, and suppression.

The chaotic nature of cyberspace fuels digital nationalism, while cyber weapons — now part of the military arsenals of countries such as china, israel, iran, south korea, the united states, and russia — have made political decision-making increasingly unpredictable. The absence of common international standards poses undefined risks, leading to a new level of global disorder with emerging boundaries that threaten the free flow of information across the world