Artificial intelligence is arriving just as the global balance of power shifts. On a Bloomberg stage in Singapore, Mishal Husain asked Kishore Mahbubani, Singapore’s former ambassador to the United Nations, and George Yeo, Singapore’s former foreign minister, who will control AI as the world splits into many centres of power.
A technology with a god complex
Yeo names AI as the defining issue of the age and criticises the god complex he sees in parts of Silicon Valley. He points to one American company in particular, and to a decision in Beijing that changed his view of what AI means for small countries like Singapore. He also warns how exposed modern societies are when cyberattacks can reach power grids and air traffic control.
A new monster
Mahbubani calls AI a new monster, and explains why rivalry between Washington and Beijing makes it so hard for humanity to govern it together. He sets the moment against two centuries of Western dominance now drawing to a close.
The shape of the new world
Husain asks whether the world is simply moving from one dominant power to another. Yeo answers with the limits of force, the strain of sovereign debt, and a global financial system he sees weakening, with regional structures needed beneath it. Mahbubani names three words he believes define the world now taking shape.
A lesson from the Balkans of Asia
The conversation closes on Southeast Asia, once called the Balkans of Asia, and what its record of peace offers regions still divided.
Why it matters for Asia
Asian governments are deciding which AI systems to adopt, which chips to buy, and which partners to trust with their data. Western firms still lead at the frontier of AI and dominate global capital markets, so the end of Western dominance remains contested. Whatever the outcome, the rules for AI are being written during a period of great-power rivalry, and Asia has a direct stake in who writes them.
Is Western dominance ending, and who will shape the age of AI? Watch the full exchange and decide for yourself.
Related
Further reading
- Henry Kissinger, Eric Schmidt, and Daniel Huttenlocher, The Age of AI: And Our Human Future
- Kishore Mahbubani, The Asian 21st Century (free, open access): https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-16-6811-1
Excerpt from The Mishal Husain Show (Bloomberg Weekend), recorded live in Singapore. Used for commentary and analysis. Views expressed are the speakers’ own.
