The Digital Economy and AI: New Challenges for Sovereignty and Geopolitics

In a highly globalized world, no one can claim to be completely sovereign. Even China and the United States cannot isolate themselves from the rest of the global economy and its stream of innovation. It is in this context that we must analyze the development of artificial intelligence, a technology that is the subject of the wildest speculation, both on the part of the most prominent entrepreneurs and business leaders in Silicon Valley and elsewhere, but also on the part of states, first of all, China and the United States. While the possibility of a bubble and therefore of unreasonable expectations is currently the subject of debate, that should not eclipse the fundamental debate, which is to understand the nature of the paradigm shift brought about by AI and what this may mean for the current balance of economic, political, and geopolitical power. JEL classification: F5, O3.