The global AI landscape is often framed as a bitter rivalry between China and the United States. However, the emerging global order is more complex, suggesting a multi-polar dynamic involving various middle powers.

There is a tendency to portray the global artificial intelligence (AI) landscape as consisting of two bitter rivals – China and the United States. The remaining 80 per cent of the world’s population, by virtue of their supposed dearth of scale, research and other critical overheads, are purportedly followers with no agency. The reality is more complex. The emerging global AI order is neither unipolar nor strictly bipolar. Instead, it is characterised by a swathe of middle powers hedging their...