'Closed political systems will become more stable than open political systems due to AI': Ian Brewell, Political Scientist

At the recent India Today Conclave Pop Up, US political scientist Ian Bremmer spoke with India Today's News Director Rahul Kanwal about the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on political and economic systems.

Bremmer suggested that AI could overturn the long-held assumption that democracies and free markets are inherently more stable and successful than dictatorships and monopolistic systems.

"For the last 30 years and, and over the course of my studies, I always believed that democracies and open political systems were more stable than dictatorships and closed political systems," Bremmer stated. "I also believed that well-regulated competitive, free markets would bring more growth and success economically than monopoly systems, state capitalist systems. I think that AI in the next five years will challenge both of those assumptions. It is now possible that closed political systems will become more stable than open political systems as we look at the future of AI.”

He argued that AI's capacity to enhance surveillance and efficiency might make closed political systems more stable and monopolistic systems more productive.

"It is also possible that as AI has the ability to consolidate data and create greater efficiency and productivity and reduce waste, that monopolise systems economically, either in the private sector or in the public sector, could be more efficient than competitive, smaller creative destruction in the free marketplace," Bremmer added. "I am not yet willing to flip my bet, but I know that I'm uncertain because of the future of AI. That is another reason that if you are India, you would be unwise to make irreversible bets at this level of uncertainty around the future of what kind of economic and political systems will be dominant in the coming global order. I think this is a hugely important point that is underappreciated by people that have studied the Westphalian system because we're not sure how durable the Westphalian system is.”

While not ready to completely overturn his worldview, Bremmer highlighted the uncertainty AI introduces, urging nations like India to avoid making rigid commitments in the face of a potentially shifting global order.

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