Blockchain, AI Ethics Among Top 10 Next Geopolitics Risks in 2021, Leading Futurism Consultancy Says

Numerous key technologies are set to further disrupt 2021 as new lines are drawn between government, institutions and corporations in the race for tech dominance, a key report has revealed.
Sputnik

Abishur Prakash discussed the top 10 tech geopolitical risks in 2021 as outlined in a report released by the Center for Innovating the Future (CIF), as well as provided updates on the global tectonic shifts in Next Geopolitics, namely in blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI), and many others.

Mr Prakash is a geopolitical futurist at the CIF, a tech strategy consultancy based in Toronto. He has authored several books, including Next Geopolitics: Volume One and Two, Geopolitics of Artificial Intelligence (Go.AI) and The Age of Killer Robots.

Sputnik: Your consultancy has listed the top 10 geopolitics of tech risks for 2021. Do you prioritise these according to severity levels or do you perceive them to be an interconnected ebb and flow of importance? How should these threats be treated and why?

Abishur Prakash: The risks identified fall along a spectrum and have been assembled, not in terms of priority, as they are all equal in importance, but in terms of likelihood of occurring over the next twelve months.

These risks mark a permanent shift in how geopolitics is evolving. For the first time, the biggest challenges facing countries and companies have little to do with territory or resources. Now, it is all about technology.

Our risks should be treated as 'markers' for how broad geopolitics of technology is, or what I call 'Next Geopolitics'.

Top 10 Geopolitics of Tech Risks
Government 'Sovereign Data Zones'Big Tech and Governments Set To Clash

Blockchain Deployments To Split Global Economy

Tech-Based Institutions Will Define Global Rules
Global Flashpoints Due to Military AI and RoboticsExport Controls on Tech Trade
5G Coalitions Will Develop New Tech ManifestosImmigration 4.0 To Base Tech Talent On Ethnicity
Space Races To Build New HegemoniesConsumer Markets Weaponise to Access Chips

Most people only think about US-China tensions or 5G bans, but there is far more taking place, including areas we have highlighted, like new tech-based alliances and algorithms generating new flashpoints.

These new geopolitical realities are not being given much attention and this means most of the world is overlooking what is happening: an absolute reconfiguration of geopolitics.

Concurrently, these risks reflect just how many companies will be affected by the geopolitics of technology. In the past, geopolitics only affected investment banks or oil companies, but now dozens of industries are in the crosshairs as technology transforms the discipline.

Take Immigration 4.0, a risk that will affect the entire world, which stems from how tensions over tech are changing how governments approach immigration.

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The United Kingdom is set to exclude some foreign students from studying particular subjects like cyber security, with London singling out Chinese students.

This means multinationals seeking to bring tech talent from abroad or train them locally must now contend with geopolitics.

Lastly, these risks reflect how fast geopolitics of technology is accelerating. Dozens of events took place in 2020, from India’s TikTok ban, Australia’s decision on rare earth minerals and Russia’s stance on AI. Momentum will only pick up speed in 2021.

Sputnik: The importance of blockchain cannot be understated as governments are pushing respective programmes to implement the technology. How do you see blockchain as a metaphor for the reconnection of the human individual to the process of value exchange? Can the global economy remain under mere market forces, or has it become something more?

Abishur Prakash: I view blockchain as a 'rewiring' for the world. Like the Internet, blockchain represents a platform for commerce of all kinds, whether in national elections, financial transactions or the movement of sensitive information. But unlike the Internet, which emerged in a largely unipolar world, blockchain is emerging at a time of great geopolitical rivalry.

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The biggest sign of this is with China’s 'Blockchain Services Network' (BSN), which is a state project launched by Beijing to make its blockchain the new global platform to facilitate commerce.

If a business in Spain wants to set up an online shop to sell globally, or if a government in Africa wants to boost trade with South America, Beijing wants it to use BSN.

Obviously, countries like the US, France and Australia will not be comfortable with this, and they may not join the BSN or may roll out an alternative, splitting the global economy. On one hand, dozens of nations may rewire their economies for the BSN, but other regions may conversely be governed by a separate blockchain stemming from a Chinese adversary.

While the roots of blockchain may have revolved around security and value exchange, the adoption of blockchain is taking place for an entirely different reason. Governments are utilizing this technology to rollout digital currencies to boost economies, build new geopolitical edge or enhance political processes by boosting transparency and accountability.

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Regardless of how technology exists, economics will always play both a visible and invisible role, but with blockchain, the role of geopolitics is just as important as economics, in terms of influence.

This means this is not just about 'market forces' affecting the spread of blockchain via digital currencies or Decentralised Finance (DEFI), it is also about geopolitics. The way governments and non-state actors leverage blockchain to build their global footprint will define blockchain more than anything else, making geopolitics the elephant in the room.

Sputnik: Past advancements of technology, namely in the 1990s and 2000s, paved the way for the era of globalisation, but as the process developed, realignments of control have formed under numerous tech-based institutions such as the Global Partnership for AI (GPAI), 3GPP, IEEE, National Blockchain Committee, D10 Alliance and others. Where are the demarcation lines strongest in global tech governance, and will this erode the usefulness of major institutions such as the UN or create a "Venn Diagram" of interdependent power structures?

Abishur Prakash: The established institutions are about to face a relevance crisis. For the past 70 years, traditional institutions have governed the world, and their rules and proposals have been adopted without question. Equally important is that the whole world was invited to these groups.

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But now, a different paradigm is emerging. Instead of global groups, technology is giving rise to exclusive groups made up of likeminded nations. For example, D10, a group of ten democracies proposed by the UK, is setting global rules for 5G, and the G7-led GPAI is doing the same for AI.

Both groups are made up of Western nations plus emerging powers like India and South Korea, and neither China or Russia are members. Quite humorously, the very nations that created traditional institutions are now stepping away from them and creating smaller clubs focused on technology!

These new technology groups, or tech alliances, will give established institutions a run for their money. Who should set the global rules for 5G or 6G - the D10 or United Nations?

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At the same time, groups like D10 and GPAI will inspire non-members to come up with their own technology groups, making the future world part-Venn Diagram and part battlefield.

There will be overlaps in some areas as different technology groups cooperate or coexist, but in many others, there will be utter opposition as different groups clash over who has jurisdiction.

I discuss this challenge in a concept called 'AI20,' where I propose a new AI-focused institution should emerge, made up of countries, companies and cities, which will clash with traditional institutions over who calls the shots.

Sputnik: The movie Chappie is a brilliant example of how military AI could create geopolitical flashpoints, namely as machines move from artificial narrow intelligence (ANI) to artificial general intelligence (AGI). Why is the discipline of AI ethics a core aspect of military AI, and can you offer a couple of examples of potential risks governments and corporations will face in the future?

Abishur Prakash: The ethics of military AI is the single most important area related to the role AI plays in defense, which is why I dedicate several sections of my book The Age of Killer Robots to ethics. When we talk about ethics, we are talking about the implicit rules that will define how AI behaves and thinks, which are parameters in the programming.

Several defense agencies such as US Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) are aware of the importance of ethics. DARPA has been working on explainable AI, or AI that can explain why it arrived at a certain decision.

This is the pre-requisite for ethics. By understanding how algorithms think, it is easier to build rules that govern this thinking.

The Australian military is also working on ethics for killer robots while the US Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC) held a meeting with 13 nations on ethics for military AI in September this year.

Killer Robots 'Have Arrived', Humans Need Serious Talks on AI Warfare Ethics in Tech Race - Futurist
There are several risks that come to light as the world thinks about military AI ethics. First, ethics can be biased, meaning a nation may load ethics into their military AI that is biased towards certain nations, ideologies or cultures, influencing the behavior of that AI. This is something I discuss in my book.

Consider, for instance, algorithms scanning satellite imagery. If these algorithms are biased, they may identify threats or risks emerging from a particular nation on a scale that does not match the analyses of other nations.

Second, ethics can give defense and technology companies a new kind of power. The companies who are developing military AI could program ethics they feel are appropriate, putting many militaries at the mercy of how these firms think.

Lastly, ethics could be a new way for nations to build their global footprint. Certain governments may seek to export their AI-ethics to other nations, creating new fault lines over whose ethics governments use to control their military AI.

Discuss