Four Battlegrounds: Power in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

This analysis of artificial intelligence (AI), largely focused on national security issues rather than design, discusses the challenges for the United States. Former U.S. Army Ranger Scharre (VP, New American Security; Army of None) identifies four key elements that define this struggle: data, computing power, talent, and institutions, and he includes extensive endnotes. The book shows that the United States, China, and Europe are the major world players in AI. Currently, the United States has the lead in development and implementation, with China, in a far more opaque way, close behind. The military uses it for such things as autonomous weapons, and that field is growing, but this book argues that the fear of AI running wars without human intervention is overblown. The major threat, according to Scharre, is the use of AI in authoritarian societies, where it is already being used by governments for population control, as in Chinese measures to surveil Uyghurs. The author argues that democracies must ensure that the future of AI is one that advances human freedom and global peace.