How AI is reshaping diplomacy and global affairs

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illuminem summarises for you the essential news of the day. Read the full piece on TIME News or enjoy below:

🗞️ Driving the news: At the BRIDGE Summit in Abu Dhabi, leading technologists and policy thinkers warned that AI is accelerating diplomatic decision-making faster than institutions can adapt, raising profound risks for global governance
• Panelists stressed that policymakers increasingly face high-stakes choices informed by unverified or AI-generated content, heightening the need for transparent and “interrogable” tools

🔭 The context: AI systems are proliferating unevenly across regions, shaped by infrastructure, data availability, and geopolitical influence
• While the U.S. and China dominate AI development, the Middle East and parts of the Global South are rapidly investing to catch up
• Yet regions like Africa remain data-scarce, limiting their ability to benefit from or shape global AI ecosystems

🌍 Why it matters for the planet: AI is becoming a central tool for climate modelling, disaster response, environmental monitoring and equitable development, but these benefits depend on trustworthy data, inclusive governance, and reduced systemic bias
• Without localised, representative data and global oversight, AI risks reinforcing inequalities, distorting environmental decision-making, and undermining efforts to manage climate security challenges collaboratively

⏭️ What’s next: Experts called for global standards on AI transparency, watermarking, and accountability, along with stronger public literacy and governance structures
• A potential “tripolar” AI world, including the Middle East as an emerging hub, could reshape diplomatic alliances and regulatory cooperation
• Policymakers will increasingly need to integrate AI into national security, climate policy, and economic planning while ensuring democratic oversight

💬 One quote: “Decision makers are being asked to make decisions very quickly on the basis of information that may not be verified or verifiable,” said Elizabeth Churchill of MBZUAI

📈 One stat: Africa remains one of the world’s most data-scarce regions, a gap that significantly slows the development and deployment of advanced AI tools

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