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While the United States and China compete for global AI leadership, the EU has opened an alternative rights-based route in the ongoing battle of AI norms, which seems to resonate with Australia’s vision and interests.
These conversations are making their way to Pacific island countries that are starting their AI adoption journeys. The technology could help address some of their most pressing challenges, but as a region at the crossroads of geopolitical influences they will have to take their pick in the battle of AI norms.
Pacific island countries are starting to implement digital strategies and have ‘a late-mover advantage to selectively adopt best AI practices from the US, China and the EU’, according to a report by the AI Asia Pacific Institute. The Pacific is already a geostrategic battlefield of the China-US rivalry and AI emerges as the latest arena for influence.
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Pacific island countries could also be affected by the lesser-known consequences of AI, particularly its environmental impact. Energy-ravenous AI systems drive up power demand, exacerbating climate change effects. The region is already on the frontline of global warming. AI adoption should be accompanied by a rapid transition to renewable energy sources.
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Between these two geopolitical and normative poles [of the U.S. and China], the EU emerged last year as a creative force. In its search for strategic autonomy and to appear as a credible normative power, it adopted the AI Act after months of negotiations. This safety legislation introduces different obligations for AI products and services sold on the EU market, adjusted to their level of societal risks. To avoid stifling innovation, the EU paired the legislation with an initiative to mobilise €200 billion for AI development.
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Australia is also acting in this battle of AI norms in the Pacific. For example, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade organised a series of side events on AI adoption in the Asia-Pacific at the Paris AI Action Summit.
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