--- title: "The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Global Power and Geopolitics · AI Fault Line" url: https://aifaultline.com/research/p/doi-10-5281-zenodo-20687138/ description: "AI Fault Line is a neutral, evidence-cited field guide to why experts looking at the same developments disagree about AI's effect on productivity, jobs, inequality, regulation and the pace of change." --- [Research](https://aifaultline.com/research/) # The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Global Power and Geopolitics Aishwarya Upadhye · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · 14 Jun 2026 [Read original source](https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20687138) Open access Where this sits in the debate - [Will AI widen inequality?](https://aifaultline.com/debate/inequality/) · its finding supports the claim ([why studies differ](https://aifaultline.com/debate/inequality/#why)) Direction of the finding as read from the abstract by an AI model ([AI-written](https://aifaultline.com/about/)). ## Key takeaway [AI-written](https://aifaultline.com/about/) A literature review of AI from geographic and geopolitical angles. It argues that AI's effects concentrate in urban, high-skill regions, widening regional and socio-economic inequality, and that AI has become an object of competition between the US, China and the EU, calling for a multi-level view from local to global governance. ## Abstract Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly changing our economies, labor markets and global balance of power. The present paper studies AI from geographical and geopolitical perspectives, drawing together findings from literature on the uneven spatial diffusion of AI and global competition over its development. This evidence indicates that AI influences are unevenly distributed, with greater intensity in urban, high-skill regions, and so amplify regional and socio-economic inequality. AI is also becoming an object of global politics, amplifying geopolitical competition between the US, China and the EU, who approach the development of the technology with different policy visions. This paper advocates for a multi-level perspective on the development of AI, ranging from local to global levels, to understand new forms of inequality, governance issues and security concerns. ## About this publication **Preprint.** A preprint — posted publicly before or without journal peer review; findings may still be revised. Published 2026 (4 months ago) Citations 0 (OpenAlex) 0 citations recorded by OpenAlex — too few 2026 papers in this collection for a fair comparison. [Chart: published 2026] ## More on this topic Related by theme, not necessarily by method or conclusion. - [The Effects of Generative AI on High Skilled Work: Evidence from Three Field Experiments with Software Developers](https://aifaultline.com/research/p/doi-10-2139-ssrn-4945566/) SSRN · 2024 - [GPTs are GPTs: An Early Look at the Labor Market Impact Potential of Large Language Models](https://aifaultline.com/research/p/doi-10-48550-arxiv-2303-10130/) arXiv · 2023 - [Experimental evidence on the productivity effects of generative artificial intelligence](https://aifaultline.com/research/p/doi-10-1126-science-adh2586/) Science · 2023 - [The simple macroeconomics of AI](https://aifaultline.com/research/p/doi-10-1093-epolic-eiae042/) Economic Policy · 2024 Overview assembled automatically from collected metadata. [How this site is built](https://aifaultline.com/about/).