Artificial Intelligence: A New Realm in Global Competition

Q: Do you feel intelligent?

A: As an AI (artificial intelligence), I do not possess human emotions or consciousness, so the concept of feeling intelligent does not apply to me. I am a machine learning model trained on a large dataset of text, designed to generate human-like text based on the input I receive. My abilities are limited to the knowledge I have been trained on and the algorithms I use to generate text. I have no personal experiences or feelings; I simply respond to the inputs I receive based on the patterns I have learned.

This is an excerpt from a dialogue (chat) conducted a few days ago with the program from OpenAI called chatGPT. The response was provided by the “machine,” a program residing in the “cloud” with response times of less than one second. It was conducted in English, and its translation into Spanish was performed almost instantaneously with another program that uses artificial intelligence (AI).

Artificial intelligence, along with other emerging technologies, is increasingly present in various areas of human activity, government, economies, and industries, leading some analysts to consider AI as part of national critical infrastructure that must be developed and secured.

Globally, the dominance of these technologies has become a central element in the hegemonic competition landscape among major world powers and also in the competition among large technology corporations (the so-called big tech), with geopolitical, strategic, economic, and social effects that will impact all countries.

In this sense, the power of a nation today is not only defined by control over territories, population, access to natural resources, availability of energy, or productive capacity, but also by the ability to securely and freely access such technologies and maintain its capacity to compete and develop. 

From a Defense and Security perspective, access to and application of advanced technologies is essential for achieving effectiveness in multidomain operations (in physical domains such as air, land, sea, and space; logical domains such as cyberspace; and the cognitive or information domain).

In this article, we will review the concepts of artificial intelligence and human intelligence, areas of AI application, with an emphasis on Security and Defense aspects, and the problems it may generate. We will continue with an overview of the efforts made by major powers and private corporations to lead in this new scenario, and we will conclude by examining Chile’s approach as a middle power in terms of public policy.

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Cristian de la Maza Riquelme
Research Fellow AthenaLab
February 9, 2023