Fear of US AI dominance and the Taiwan issue

Since the end of the Second World War, the United States has sought to expand its influence. Trump has recently demanded Greenland and effectively semi-occupied Venezuela. Moreover, America will soon become much stronger than it is today, thanks to powerful developments that even advanced nations find difficult to match. The Israeli thinker Yuval Noah Harari, addressing his British host, stated: “If the American government asks you to jump, you must jump immediately. If it tells you that Greenland belongs to the United States, not Denmark, then it does, and you must accept it. If it asks you to hand over the Falkland Islands, which Britain occupies, to Argentina, do not oppose that.”

One of the serious threats facing many countries today, including Britain and European Union nations, can be termed “American imperialism in the field of artificial intelligence.” This threat will result in countries becoming subordinate entities to the United States. If a country’s economy and its entire military technology depend on infrastructure reliant on AI, Americans can shut it down with the press of a button, turning that country into a subordinate state. This is a real and imminent threat that could materialize within a few years.

Advanced industrial nations like Britain have only three options available. The first is to continue as usual, accepting subordination. The second is to say: “No, we will not accept this. We want to preserve our independence, so we will build our own British AI system.” This may seem like a great decision, but its cost is exorbitant, reaching approximately 500 billion pounds. Theoretically, Britain is capable of doing this. It is one of the few countries in the world that still possesses that capacity. However, this would mean an immediate cut in spending on healthcare, social services, education, transport, and other areas to raise the funds needed for Britain to become independent from the US in the field of AI.

The final option is to acknowledge that the cost is too high for it to bear alone and to cooperate with Europeans. This means returning to the European Union; otherwise, the American threat and subordination to the US in all matters will continue.

The problem facing humanity is that America’s capabilities exceed those of many other countries, even when they are combined, especially during periods of international peace. It holds many keys that others do not possess. However, its enormous size and massive military and financial power could easily fall into the hands of untrustworthy decision-makers, whose personal conduct is marred by countless flaws. This is the great danger.

There is also a more complex problem: the colossal AI sector relies heavily on Taiwan. The United States cannot suddenly increase chip production due to a combination of engineering complexity, exorbitant costs, and the lack of local infrastructure for the supply chain. We will address this in a future article. Currently, TSMC dominates the most advanced technologies, while US companies excel in designing AI chips. However, actual production occurs externally. TSMC produces more than 90% of the world’s most advanced and high-performance chips, and its manufacturing process is the most complex and precise in human history. Several massive obstacles prevent expanding production to any other country. Therefore, the United States is desperately defending Taiwan’s independence.

Ahmed Al-Sarraf