Geopolitics: AI and China; Enabling Ideology?

Dora Papadopoulou^*

• EPLO, Athens, Greece

The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has changed our understanding of political and social reality. Only recently has AI been brought up in the context of Governance, primarily in relation to the development of National Strategies. The use of AI as an instrument or as a model of control should also be emphasized in this discussion, with the goal of identifying the kind of AI that actors themselves wish to embrace or develop. AI has a transformative character, which is a global challenge, therefore approaching it as performativity or using a human-centric approach has altered the dynamics. China is undoubtedly setting the benchmark for AI. Τhis paper discusses the return of ideology in the context of geopolitics, highlighting China's use of AI as a key example of how it may shift the balance of power. Instead of using AI as an instrument, China mostly applies it as a means of enforcing a power model. China mainly relies on AI as a method to advance a model of power, rather than merely utilizing it as an instrument. As the world moves beyond the US-led liberal international order, the AI battle can be understood fundamentally as a battle of ideologies.