July 8, 2026 – The global race to dominate artificial intelligence is not just a technological competition—it is a dangerous narrative that could trigger a worst-case geopolitical disaster, warns Verity Harding, a former head of global public policy at Google DeepMind. In a stark interview published today, Harding argues that the current U.S. government’s aggressive, nationalistic posture toward AI is proof that the “arms race” framing has already begun to backfire, isolating allies and escalating risks.
Harding, who briefed world leaders from Barack Obama to Emmanuel Macron between 2016 and 2020, recalls an era when AI research was grounded in international collaboration. But she says that spirit has been replaced by a zero-sum rivalry—pitting American labs like OpenAI and Anthropic against Chinese counterparts, and superpowers against each other. The metaphor of an “arms race,” she contends, is not just inaccurate; it is actively dangerous. It locks policymakers into a mindset where cooperation is seen as weakness, and where safety standards become casualties of speed.
In her newly released essay anthology, Reframing the AI Arms Race, Harding and contributors—including historian Lawrence Freedman and Japanese lawmaker Taro Kono—argue that language shapes policy. Casting AI as a lethal weapon, they write, slams the door on the international agreements needed to ensure the technology remains safe and its benefits widely shared. Harding points specifically to the current administration’s nationalist AI rhetoric and its push for strict export controls on homegrown models as symptoms of this mindset. For smaller nations, she adds, the arms race framing forces them to pick sides—often against their own economic and security interests.
The stakes could not be higher. With U.S.-China tensions deepening and no binding global AI treaty in sight, Harding warns that the current trajectory risks a fragmented, unstable landscape where accidents or miscalculations spiral out of control. She urges Washington to pivot from confrontation to coalition-building, arguing that true leadership lies in setting global safety standards—not in hoarding technology. As the July heat rises on both geopolitical and tech fronts, her message is clear: the language we use today will determine whether AI becomes a tool for shared progress or a trigger for global crisis.