GenAI Will Shape American Foreign Policy

(NewsUSA) – When it comes to generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), the United States government needs to adjust its mission and tradecraft to advance American interests, according to experts at the Special Competitive Studies Project (SCSP), a bipartisan nonprofit organization.Despite its current position as a global leader GenAI, the issue facing the United States is how to shape GenAI’s global use and function so that it reinforces these interests, according to a new report from SCSP.The authors outline recommendations for a new model of statecraft and the creation of global institutions to chart a way for GenAI to be used for good, and to put guardrails in place to protect against negative consequences.SCSP advises the U.S. government to bring together different departments, authorities, talents, and tools, and to establish domestic regulatory policies that also reflect a global context, to work alongside like-minded allies, but not to disadvantage the U.S. private sector in global competition.Platforms Statecraft. A platform approach to foreign policy and GenAI should include an updated mission with competition around technology platforms, as well as joint efforts across government agencies, modernization, and sub-national diplomacy to ensure that U.S. policy is tied into domestic innovation at the state and local levels.New Tools. The adoption of GenAI tools by the Department of State will change the way workforces do their jobs, but these high-tech tools do not replace decision-making by policy experts; instead, GenAI tools provide additional, and potentially novel, recommendations and solutions based on an amount of information that no one human can process as quickly as a machine. Agency-wide programs to leverage GenAI could include a centralized GenAI infrastructure, a tailored GenAI system to handle sensitive information, and training policy makers to understand how GI works and where human oversight is needed.Global Frameworks. To manage GenAI as a geopolitical and transnational issue, SCSP recommends creating a leaders-level forum to bring together key nations and address the highest-level risks that GenAI may pose; a leaders-level agenda item on GenAI in bilateral dialogues between the U.S. and the People’s Republic of Chine to help manage strategic stability risks; and a working-level forum for like-minded national to explore positive use cases around GenAI and mitigate against practical challenges.For more information, visit scsp.ai.