AI IR: Charting International Relations in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Abstract Over the past decade, rapid progress in artificial intelligence (AI) has transformed a range of areas, from medicine to strategic games and communication technologies, from art and culture to everyday office work. It would be naïve to assume that this evolution does not permeate and alter international affairs. Building on, and solidifying, a thriving yet still fragmented emerging literature on “AI IR,” this forum gathers several critical diagnoses of the way AI technologies impact on various areas of international relations. Introducing new concepts and charting emerging empirical realities, contributors explore how AI advances, such as autonomous lethal systems, synthetic imagery and text, or intelligent systems, are already creating new landscapes of violent and nonviolent international interactions. Yet, behind their distinct takes, contributions together stress the need to correctly locate and evaluate specific sites of AI impact, thus offering a nuanced appraisal scrutinizing grand declarations of an “AI revolution” in global politics.