AI Technologies and International Relations: Do We Need New Analytical Frameworks?

Abstract

AI technologies are drawing increasing attention among international relations (IR) scholars. Ingvild Bode reviews this literature through considering, in particular, the extent to which such studies continue to use or expand on well-traded analytical frameworks. She finds that scholarship on AI in IR can look back at a longer-than-expected trajectory and centres on four key themes: the balance of power; disinformation; governance; and ethics. Much of this literature works with well-established IR conceptualisations, while studies across three emerging themes - (re)conceptualising technology, beyond the AI arms race, and unpacking relevant actors - push and expand established disciplinary frameworks. ◼.