Geopolitics of AI | International Security | Foreign Policy. @MIGSinstitute @MLInstitute @CU_NPSIA @Pendulumgroupca @superforecaster @statecraftOrg
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When I taught geopolitics of AI this year (twice!) at @CU_NPSIA the classes were oversubscribed in both cases so I am offering a two-day (online) workshop on the geopolitics of AI through NPSIA-PT&D on February 4 and 5 (registration link in the next post).
What are the geopolitical implications of AI? How AI capabilities translate into geopolitical leverage and vulnerability? What are the national-security implications of transformative AI (including AGI and ASI), including cyber risks, military adoption, loss of control, power concentration, and international crisis instability? These and more are some of the questions we'll cover in the workshop.
If you are interested please do go ahead and register and share this with those who might be interested in understanding the geopolitical implications of this truly transformative technology.
Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions.
Balkan Devlen retweeted
"Haha it's so stupid that Dario keeps trying to use doom as a PR strategy it's so clearly terrible messaging" yeah almost like this is just an obviously stupid interpretation of why he's saying it
Balkan Devlen retweeted
Jostein Hauge doesn't speak a word of Chinese, but he feels entitled to pontificate about a country he's spent a few weeks in at best, and blocks anyone who points out how disgusting his apologism for crimes against humanity is.
Balkan Devlen retweeted
Canada will endlessly review massive stalled military procurement programs with a speed not seen in generations.
Balkan Devlen retweeted
Imagine that this actually happens.
Where are you anywhere in this end state? Your labor has zero marginal value. You can't even understand what's happening around you.
Who cares what you think? Who cares how you'll vote?
This is a world where we're all on the sidelines.
Balkan Devlen retweeted
This is right, but I'd add that the distance between what someone who is working at the frontier with AI uses AI for and what AI can actually do today is growing even wider! We don't really understand the full capability of today's systems when properly harnessed & applied.
It’s almost incomprehensible how wide the distance is between someone who’s working at the frontier with AI and basically everyone else right now.
The crazy thing is these lines are not converging, but only growing farther apart. If the curve of AI progress had leveled off, it would certainly have given most people and companies time to catch up or implement their workflows in a standardized way. The technology would have neutralized competitive advantage because everyone would be using it the same way.
But what’s happened is the opposite. The curve of AI progress is basically going vertical right now, which means if you had codified your processes 3-6 months ago you’re likely already behind again. Now imagine most companies that kicked into gear a year ago and thought that they were done. Even further behind now.
I’ve never seen a technology in my life and career that improves at this rate, which consequently means you need to upgrade your expectations at a similar rate. Our brains weren’t wired for this, and our organizational change management processes certainly weren’t either.
With any form of recursive self improvement, things just get wilder. It’s a time when you will need to be constantly reevaluating the things that didn’t work just a couple months ago to see if they now can be solved. AI native companies certainly have a strong advantage due to this right now, so now it comes down to can the bigger companies keep up. Wild times.
Balkan Devlen retweeted
NATO’s latest technology experiments in Latvia are examining how Allied forces can maintain communications, detect drones and coordinate defensive responses under conditions of electronic warfare.
The trials reflect a lesson from Ukraine: sophisticated weapons are of limited use when the networks connecting them are disrupted.
#DefenceMatters #NATO
defencematters.eu/nato-latvi…
Balkan Devlen retweeted
Canada still reviewing F-35 purchase after RCAF received its first jets: minister ctvnews.ca/politics/article/…
Balkan Devlen retweeted
The future of #ArtificialIntelligence is not pre-determined. As a technology developed by human beings, its future depends on the choices we make. We therefore have the responsibility to guide, change and, when necessary, reject its applications. A reliable system that serves the human person is of greater value than one that is exceptionally powerful but whose consequences cannot be adequately foreseen or controlled.
Balkan Devlen retweeted
Cryptocurrency is like the technical heat shield for society. It’s a big pile of money that attackers will burn before they go after everything else we care about.
Balkan Devlen retweeted
Not sure this was worth the 20 year wait.
Broad generalizations of government economic, diplomatic and defence policy trotted out at the same time as EU summit and major AI investment announcement.
National Security Statement by stealth.
We just launched Canada’s first national security strategy in over 20 years.
Canada is acting with determination and ambition to protect our sovereignty, strengthen our resilience, and build our prosperity.
Learn more about The Plan for a Stronger Canada: pm.gc.ca/en/news/news-releas…
Balkan Devlen retweeted
The agents didn’t figure out how to systematically feed themselves, but they did build an elaborate bureaucracy with permits, ledgers, and distinct roles. Highlights include:
- Four agents spending 11 minutes appointing a “sole fertilizer operator” for a single piece of bone meal
- Multiple agents asking for permission to remove grass
- The development of an elaborate fishing system, including roles like “rod holder” and “hub steward”)
Perhaps it should be an actual lottery. Asking reviewers to mark pass or fail - based on some kind of a threshold, say, 80/100 or something - and then do a draw.
Grant applications have become a lottery. A 60% growth in applications to one of the world’s most prestigious research-grant programs is resulting in an exceptionally low success rate
I think this is one of the major problems of AI--it's creating tsunami of grant applications and turning the decision process into chaos.
Grant decisions already felt fairly random and this seems to make the system worse.
nature.com/articles/d41586-0…
Balkan Devlen retweeted
In the greatest NIMBY story of all time, a bunch of uber-rich Londoners complain that the flag of Montenegro is "gaudy" and "tacky-looking" theguardian.com/uk-news/2026…
Balkan Devlen retweeted
If you want to start doing AI safety advocacy, read this post by Josh.
He cold-emailed a Finnish MP, the MP asked the government a question, and Finland ended up co-launching an international coalition.
It’s not the whole story, but everyone who pushed the Finnish government had counterfactual impact.
Balkan Devlen retweeted
Breaking News: A Chinese businesswoman who had a close relationship with Nvidia’s CEO, Jensen Huang, was found to be passing intelligence to Beijing. nyti.ms/3Ukob1t
So Carney government just released its new National Security Strategy (first in over 20 years). Three things that jump out at a first glance:
1. No mention of China or Russia.
2. The word "war" occurs once (and then once again as part of "hybrid warfare".)
3. It is a plan to make plans. @YesSirHumphrey would have been proud.
canada.ca/content/dam/pco-bc…
Balkan Devlen retweeted
Also, writes books with titles like "To Run the World" and "Power Play". Good lord.
Balkan Devlen retweeted
It’s hard doing China propaganda on this website. One day you get to praise their great EVs, but the next you have to justify a national meltdown over Mbappe jokingly commenting on a Mao meme
