February 24, 2024
Four Battlegrounds
An award-winning defense expert tells the story of today’s great power rivalry―the struggle to control artificial intelligence.
A new industrial revolution has begun. Like mechanization or electricity before it, artificial intelligence will touch every aspect of our lives―and cause profound disruptions in the balance of global power, especially among the AI superpowers: China, the United States, and Europe. Autonomous weapons expert Paul Scharre takes readers inside the fierce competition to develop and implement this game-changing technology and dominate the future.
Four Battlegrounds: Power in the Age of Artificial Intelligence (Norton, 2023) argues that four key elements define this struggle: data, computing power, talent, and institutions. Data is a vital resource like coal or oil, but it must be collected and refined. Advanced computer chips are the essence of computing power―control over chip supply chains grants leverage over rivals. Talent is about people: which country attracts the best researchers and most advanced technology companies? The fourth “battlefield” is maybe the most critical: the ultimate global leader in AI will have institutions that effectively incorporate AI into their economy, society, and especially their military.
Scharre’s account surges with futuristic technology. He explores the ways AI systems are already discovering new strategies via millions of war-game simulations, developing combat tactics better than any human, tracking billions of people using biometrics, and subtly controlling information with secret algorithms. He visits China’s “National Team” of leading AI companies to show the chilling synergy between China’s government, private sector, and surveillance state. He interviews Pentagon leadership and tours U.S. Defense Department offices in Silicon Valley, revealing deep tensions between the military and tech giants who control data, chips, and talent. Yet he concludes that those tensions, inherent to our democratic system, create resilience and resistance to autocracy in the face of overwhelmingly powerful technology.
Engaging and direct, Four Battlegrounds offers a vivid picture of how AI is transforming warfare, global security, and the future of human freedom―and what it will take for democracies to remain at the forefront of the world order.
Listen to the full episode from the Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas.
More from CNAS
-
Safe and Effective
Reports
Executive Summary With each passing year, the promise of artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomy to change the character of war inches closer to reality. This technology wil...
By Josh Wallin
-
Sharper: Military Artificial Intelligence
Commentary
Since the atomic bomb, no technology has the potential to be as disruptive to warfare as artificial intelligence (AI). AI could deliver instant targeting solutions, develop hi...
By Charles Horn
-
The United States Must Avoid AI’s Chernobyl Moment
Commentary
The United States cannot let speculative fears trigger heavy-handed regulations that would cripple U.S. AI innovation....
By Janet Egan
-
Lawfare Daily: Tim Fist and Arnab Datta on the Race to Build AI Infrastructure in America
Podcast
Tim Fist, senior adjunct fellow with the Technology and National Security Program at the Center for New American Security, and Arnab Datta, Director of Infrastructure Policy a...
By Tim Fist
