Verity Harding, a former head of global public policy at Google DeepMind, warned that the prevailing metaphor of an "AI arms race" is reshaping geopolitics in ways that could undermine safety, cooperation and the broader benefits of artificial intelligence. Speaking to WIRED in early June, Harding said the language used to describe AI now mirrors Cold‑War narratives, casting the technology as a weapon rather than a shared scientific endeavor.

During her four‑year tenure at DeepMind, Harding briefed leaders ranging from former President Barack Obama to French President Emmanuel Macron on the promise and perils of AI. At the time, she described the field as rooted in international cooperation, with labs working together to address ethical dilemmas. "We were trying to help political leaders understand the technology and what it could do," she recalled. "It was exciting, but we also recognized the need for collaborative safeguards."

Hardening of rhetoric began, she said, when rivalries between individual labs and between the United States and China took center stage. The launch of ChatGPT in November 2022, coinciding with the COVID‑19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, accelerated the shift. Suddenly, AI was framed as the "new arms race," a narrative that linked the technology to national security and strategic advantage.

Harding identified two forces driving the shift. First, a sincere belief that AI could become dangerous in the wrong hands, prompting some policymakers to argue that democratic nations must retain control. Second, an anti‑regulation current that painted China as a bogeyman, suggesting that any regulation would hand the advantage to a rival. "It’s a sexy framing," she said, "but it narrows our thinking."

The United States, according to Harding, has embraced an increasingly nationalist stance. She cited a recent executive order from the Trump administration that combined nationalist rhetoric with a forced withdrawal of Anthropic’s latest model from the market. The move, she argued, exemplifies how the arms‑race narrative fuels isolationist policies that could stifle innovation and limit the ability of smaller nations to shape AI development.

Harding’s solution is not isolationism but a middle‑powers coalition that could balance the influence of the two superpowers. She envisions a partnership involving Canada, France, Japan, South Korea, India and the United Kingdom. Each brings distinct assets: India’s scale, the UK’s talent pool, Canada’s critical minerals, and so on. "The point is to not allow the arms‑race framing to convince you that the entire game of AI is a binary race between two superpowers," she said. "By believing it, you make it true, turning yourself into a small chess piece on one side or the other."

Harding cautioned that the language of a race encourages rapid, competitive development at the expense of careful, collaborative safety work. If the trend continues, she predicts a future of heavy government control, centralized power over AI systems, and reduced capacity to address global challenges such as food security or disease prevention. Smaller states may be forced to align with either the United States or China, losing agency over the technology they depend on.

While acknowledging that competition can drive progress, Harding stressed that the current framing hampers calm, collegial planning. "The arms‑race narrative accrues power to the labs that say they have the answer," she observed. "It makes it harder for anyone to exercise the cooperation muscle, and that muscle will atrophy if we don’t keep it working."

Harding’s interview underscores a growing tension in AI policy: the pull between national security concerns and the long‑standing belief that collaborative, international research yields the safest, most beneficial outcomes. As governments worldwide grapple with how to regulate powerful models, the former DeepMind executive’s call for a more inclusive, middle‑powers‑driven approach offers a potential path away from a zero‑sum competition toward a shared future for artificial intelligence.

This article was written with the assistance of AI.
News Factory APP - agentic news to boost your SEO & AEO.