THE NEW ARMS RACE BETWEEN CHINA AND THE US: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF AI-POWERED MILITARY AND ECONOMIC PURSUITS

Abstract

The current international system fosters change which is catalysed by a factor that is vital to any state's growth in the 21st century - the mastery of technology. To be precise, artificial intelligence (AI) constitutes the powerful leverage that countries will need to know how to use in order to gain the hegemonic advantage. It follows that the development of AI will be paramount in revolutionising the face of future, intelligentised warfare. This paper focuses on the elaboration of the AI narrative from a neorealist perspective, and its effects on the military and economic factors which will be most decisive in determining whether China will outpace the US in the years to follow. To this end, a comparative analysis will be employed, and document analysis will serve as the research method of choice. Not only will AI be essential to drive social change, but it will also be imperative in the development of military tools, such as target detection systems (TDS), and surveillance systems, both of which will serve as case studies to support the hypothesis that rapid AI developments stem from existing geopolitical tensions and competition, which drive the need for both countries to militarise. The growth potential of these technologies also prophesises a return on investment, for whichever state aims to employ them, in terms of both economic and military potential, international relevance, and, ultimately, security in the international system. As such, the important role of multinational domestic companies cannot be overstated in this case, and will be discussed.