Technology has the potential to dramatically improve the quality of life for the world’s populations, but there are no guarantees it will. Concerns remain about everything from how the growing digital divide risks leaving large swathes of society—and the world—behind, to questions about the security of data and its potential weaponization. And, of course, there is the ongoing debate around how technology and information platforms can be used to undermine democratic processes, including elections.
To address these concerns, a panel of experts assembled by the United Nations in 2019 called for a “multistakeholder” approach that would convene governments, members of civil society, academics, technology experts and the private sector in an attempt to develop norms and standards around these technologies. Even they could not agree on what this structure might actually look like, though, underscoring how difficult it will be to ensure that technology is harnessed for everyone’s benefit.
The risks are particularly acute under authoritarian regimes, which are more interested in utilizing new technologies to strengthen their grip on power—and stifling dissent—than in having their hands tied by whatever multistakeholder vision ultimately emerges. There are also the questions raised by technological advances in weaponry—particularly the ethical questions and legal concerns surrounding autonomous weapons that remove humans from the decision-making chain.
Get our Insights on a range of topics, highlighting WPR’s original analysis, sent to your inbox.
More immediately, the role of Big Tech in our daily lives has put an unprecedented degree of power and influence in the hands of private companies like Google, Apple, Facebook and X, formerly known as Twitter. That has led to growing calls for government oversight and regulation with regard to data privacy and the policing of online speech. Technology, particularly the advent of 5G telecom infrastructure, has also become a central feature of the strategic rivalry between the U.S. and China, even as “tech protectionism,” “tech nationalism” and “tech sovereignty” have become buzzwords in policy debates.
Meanwhile, the proliferation of cyber espionage and cyber attacks by both state and nonstate actors alike has added new tools, but also new vulnerabilities, to the international security landscape. And more recently, the emergence of artificial intelligence, or AI, has captured the popular imagination with the introduction of sophisticated AI-powered chat applications. But behind the novelty of these tools lie urgent and at times unsettling questions about AI’s potential impact on everything from education and work to politics and national security.
Despite the challenges they pose to governance and society, technological innovations will continue to emerge. In the absence of any global agreement, there is still an opportunity for governments to seize on the benefits these advances might bring, while encouraging their ethical and democratic use.
WPR has covered technology and its role in global affairs in detail and continues to examine key questions about what will happen next. How will the spread of drone technology and the advent of artificial intelligence affect the global balance of power? What steps will governments take to prevent digital attacks on future elections—and critical infrastructure? Can governments and the private sector rein in weaponized disinformation without trampling on online freedom of speech? Below are some of the highlights of WPR’s coverage.
Our Most Recent Coverage
China’s Break With Israel Was Years in the Making
Since the start of the war in Gaza, China has adopted a position that is surprisingly critical of Israel. What’s driving the shift? One overlooked factor is the relative collapse of the major pillar underpinning Sino-Israeli ties since even before they formally established diplomatic relations: trade in technology.
Tech Regulation, Internet Governance and Dissent
Nations are struggling in their effort to strike a balance between digital freedom and protecting people from the dangers that the internet and information technology can unleash—from hate speech to attacks on privacy. Authoritarian countries, having recognized how technology can be used to organize opposition, are now increasingly deploying digital blockades at politically fraught moments, while using digital tools like spyware and surveillance technologies to target critics and silence dissent. Even democracies, in their efforts to regulate content, risk reducing free and open access to information.
- What’s driving the congressional push to force the sale of TikTok, in Why Is the U.S. Targeting TikTok?
- Why governments will remain the primary actors in the international system, in Big Tech Won’t Run the World
- Why democracies should think twice before banning TikTok, in For Democracies, Banning TikTok Would Do More Harm Than Good
- How platforms like Twitter and Facebook have allowed online harassment and misogyny to flourish, in Social Media Companies Must Do More to Tackle Online Misogyny
Artificial Intelligence, Crypto and Tech Protectionism
AI is not a single technology, but a range of applications, including facial recognition and natural language processing. Though the true advent of AI remains on the horizon, the race is already on among the great powers to take the lead in developing its potential, with implications for the global balance of power. That race has taken on added urgency with the recent unveiling of AI-powered chat programs with eye-opening capabilities. In the meantime, strategic competition between the U.S. and China has increasingly included battles over who will dominate future technologies like 5G networks, but also apps, algorithms, chips and, most recently, cryptocurrencies.
- Why the U.S. should think strategically about tech cooperation with China, in The U.S. Can’t Afford a Science and Tech Decoupling From China
- What’s really behind the effort to limit China’s access to next-generation tech, in Biden’s Tech Restrictions on China Aren’t Just About Economics
- Why governments in Latin America should be figuring out how to adapt to AI now, in Latin America Needs to Start Preparing for AI’s Economic Impact
- Why TikTok could end up a casualty of the U.S.-China rivalry, in TikTok Could Get Caught in the Crossfire of U.S.-China Tensions
Drones, Autonomous Weapons and “Killer Robots”
Like much technology, drones bring great promise, including the ability to deliver medicines and other supplies to remote locations. But they are primarily associated with warfare and especially the United States’ expanded and controversial use of them over the past decade in the Middle East and Africa. Washington’s example may have sparked a global arms race, at a time when drones are increasingly accessible to unsavory groups, making them a growing risk to domestic security. Meanwhile, the emergence of technologies enabling weapon systems to act autonomously, removing humans from the decision-making chain, has raised concerns over the ethical, legal and practical challenges of machines making potentially lethal decisions. For now, the threat remains a hypothetical one, but efforts to address it already face challenges.
- How Iranian drones have upended the Middle East’s strategic landscape, in Iran’s Short-Range Missiles and Drones Are Now a Regional Reality
- How Turkey’s rapidly expanding drone exports go hand in hand with its foreign policy objectives, in Turkey Has Become a Drone ‘Superpower.’ That Could Be a Problem
- How the war in Ukraine has led to breakthrough applications of drone technology in combat, in The War in Ukraine Is a Gamechanger for Drones and UAVs
- Why what appeared like a recent setback for efforts to ban autonomous weapons systems was actually a step in the right direction, in A Better Path to a Treaty Banning ‘Killer Robots’ Has Just Been Cleared
Cyberattacks and the Challenge of Securing Cyberspace
As public and private sector activity has become increasingly dependent on the internet and digital networks, the threat posed by cyberespionage and cybercrime has grown accordingly. Attention has long been focused on state actors in cyberspace, particularly with regard to espionage and military uses of the cyber domain. But a series of high-profile ransomware attacks on critical infrastructure in the U.S. and elsewhere has shifted attention to cybercrime committed by hackers unaffiliated with governments.
- What the British Library cyberattack reveals about trends in ransomware attacks, in A Ransomware Attack Has Taken the British Library Out of Circulation
- What the leaks from last year’s hacktivist attack on Mexico’s military revealed, in Latin American Hackers Seek Accountability for State-Sponsored Violence
- Why a ransomware attack on Costa Rica represents a regional challenge, in Costa Rica’s ‘War’ Against Ransomware Is a Wake-Up Call for the Region
- How China is getting bolder in its online disinformation campaigns, in China Is Borrowing a Page From Russia’s Disinformation Playbook
Editor’s note: This article was originally published in July 2019 and is regularly updated.