Countries and Companies Have No Idea What Each Other Are Working On

One of the core tenants running throughout The Age of AI is also, undoubtedly, one of the least controversial. With artificial intelligence applications progressing at break-neck speed, both in the U.S. and other tech hubs like China and India, government bodies, thought leaders, and tech giants have all so far failed to establish a common vocabulary or a shared vision for what’s to come.

As with most issues discussed in The Age of AI, the stakes are exponentially higher when the potential military uses for AI enter the picture. Here, more often than not, countries are talking past each other and operating with little knowledge of what the other is doing. This lack of common understanding, Kissinger and Co. wager, is like a forest of bone-dry kindling waiting for an errant spark.

“Major countries should not wait for a crisis to initiate a dialogue about the implications—strategic. doctrinal, and moral—of these [AI’s] evolutions,” the authors write. Instead, Kissinger and Schmidt say they’d like to see an environment where major powers, both government and business, “pursue their competition within a framework of verifiable limits.”

“Negotiation should not only focus on moderating an arms race but also making sure that both sides know, in general terms, what the other is doing.” In a general sense, the institutions holding the AI equivalent of a nuclear football have yet to even develop a shared vocabulary to begin a dialogue.