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Global Affairs Session 70 30 July 2026 CHINA’S AI THREAT TO THE USA How open-weight models, low prices and industrial scale challenge American AI power China’s artificial-intelligence challenge to the United States is no longer based mainly on copying American breakthroughs. It increasingly combines near-frontier models, open weights, low prices, engineering efficiency and rapid industrial deployment. America still leads across the complete AI stack, but China has found ways to compete around some of its most expensive technological advantages.

Global Affairs Session 60 29 June 2026 PRISONER'S DILEMMA IN WORLD GEOPOLITICS Why rivals keep choosing to defect Modern geopolitics increasingly resembles the classic Prisoner's Dilemma: nations gain most by cooperating on climate, trade, AI safety, arms control and health, yet each fears rivals will exploit restraint. Robert Axelrod's research on the evolution of cooperation shows how repeated interaction — not one-off calculation — can turn selfish rivals into durable partners, a lesson now being tested from the Gulf to the AI race to the Paris Agreement.