The world is witnessing a race of a new kind that could affect the future of humanity, in which major countries such as America, China and Russia compete to develop artificial intelligence systems, and reconsidering the balance of power will depend on the results of this race, so where can our Arab and Islamic region put itself in this race?

In 2017, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that "artificial intelligence is the future not only of Russia, but of the whole human race, and whoever leads the development in this field will rule the world." His speech was not a prophecy from a man who knows the future, but a hint from a superpower decision-maker revealing the nature of the race that began between major powers.

Debalancing military power

In America, China and Europe, committees of many experts have been formed to discuss the impact of the development of artificial intelligence on their national security and ways to benefit from it.

One of the most important findings of the reports of various committees is that artificial intelligence systems will change the forms, means and weapons of war, so what is the need of countries for armies and conventional weapons if countries can be destroyed by controlling the flow of information, paralyzing their abilities to think and make decisions and facing the challenges of a new world in which the balance of power changes.

In August 2019, former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger warned that artificial intelligence would lead to the development of new weapons and strategies that would result in the imbalance of military power, after which Congress formed a committee to study the impact of artificial intelligence on US national security.

The committee submitted a report in March 2021, proposing a strategy for conflict management and force building, after which the United States increased spending on developing its capabilities to use artificial intelligence in the military and arms industries.

On the other hand, China does not stand still, but spends heavily on developing the military use of artificial intelligence, which leads Americans to worry, as China uses its scientists and experts to develop future wars and tools, and this threatens US military superiority.

The United States is further concerned that Chinese educational systems have excelled in teaching mathematics and in training experts, which was indicated by reports by US committees that talked about the concept of the "innovation gap" between the two countries in favor of China, and for all this US President Joe Biden considered that the future of the relationship with China will be governed by intense competition.

Artificial Intelligence and Economic Power

The impact of artificial intelligence systems does not depend on military power, but will extend to all fields, especially the economy, and it can be said that the future of the global economy will be determined in light of the results of the race in artificial intelligence applications, which will reach the volume of spending on them to $ 13 trillion until 2030.

Reports have indicated that China has been able to use artificial intelligence systems to analyze consumer data and predict their spending behavior, and this provides comparative advantages for its products.

On the other hand, major American companies such as Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook and Apple also have special comparative advantages in this area, but what is the position of many small companies and markets that do not find cover from artificial intelligence systems to work for? Can these companies and markets survive new challenges or will they be forced to stop or merge into large corporations, heralding major economic crises?

The list of potential risks of AI includes the possibility of military confrontations, loss of sovereignty, civil wars... What has the region prepared to face all this?

The European Union is one of those concerned about the future, as the committees it formed warned of the danger of competition in the field of artificial intelligence on the sovereignty and control of European countries.

One report referred to what it called the concept of "digital sovereignty" that would redistribute power between states and reshape international relations.

In 2020, the Munich Security Conference was held, at which European countries expressed their confusion in facing the challenges posed by the development of artificial intelligence, and the role it could play in the conflict.

The conference pointed to Europe's weakness in the field of artificial intelligence, its inability to compete with America and China, and that it is difficult to be a key player in "data engineering" because of its inability to provide the necessary funding to develop its information systems, and this will affect all European industries.

Another worrying concept referred to by European reports in the field of artificial intelligence is "cybernationalism", as these countries fear that the use of artificial intelligence in the exchange of information by groups of their populations may arouse a desire to establish for themselves a new nationality that distinguishes them from their countries, and may inspire the desire to form new countries, which may provoke civil wars.

The report points to multilingualism within the EU as an obstacle to the development of Europe's AI capabilities, and fears that AI will be used as a powerful tool for black political propaganda, flooding target audiences with false information. If before the development of artificial intelligence systems, China succeeded in forming an army of fake Twitter accounts to spread its propaganda, what would it be like in the future?

The future of the region

Let us leave all of them to return to our region, which is facing a new threat that is no less dangerous than what it faced before, but even more, and we have seen in the past lines that the list of fears includes the possibility of military wars, loss of sovereignty and civil wars. etc., what have you prepared to face all this?

If the approach that uses technology (and imported artificial intelligence systems) to monitor the citizen continues, besiege his creativity and shackle the scientific community, we are in danger of getting out of history, but if we decide to use our human and scientific resources, which are many, perhaps we can find ourselves a position on the map of influence and influence, because the main resource that leads development in this field will remain the human resource that enjoys support, protection, freedom of movement and thought.