A tour across offensive AI, cognitive and algorithmic warfare, and open-source intelligence
Politics, as the process of balancing competing interests, is intrinsically intricate, mirroring the complexity of human behavior both individually and collectively. While the arrival of human-equivalent artificial intelligence remains a distant prospect, contemporary AI has already made a profound impact on international relations. Its role in international affairs extends to shaping the frameworks that aid policymakers, influencing the environment in which they make decisions, and accelerating the pace at which crucial choices are determined. Beginning with a 360 degrees introduction around the form and function of AI and its evolution in the last few decades, we will explore ways by which AI has been redefining ways that concepts of military deterrence are taking shape, and discuss the implications associated with AI supremacy on international geopolitics. Furthermore, we will elaborate on emerging forms of modern warfare anchored in cognitive warfare, offensive AI, algorithmic warfare, and open-source intelligence. As a new concept surrounding the meaning of critical security for the Arab world is required and considering novel forms of information capture, this AI-led evolution (or revolution) presents both huge opportunities and substantial risks, leading us to ask: what does all that mean for Lebanon and the Middle East? And what potential impacts can we detect earlier on, so that we feel more secure, in an increasingly volatile and ambiguous world?