Governing technology

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The mismatch between technology's global, fast, privately controlled nature and the national, slow, fragmented rules meant to govern it, with no world government to bind actors.

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It advances far faster than laws and treaties can be written, so rules are outdated almost as soon as they appear.

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Technology and data cross borders, but rules are made nation by nation, so actors can operate from wherever rules are weakest and national laws leave gaps.

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Computer systems that perform tasks normally needing human intelligence — decisions, recognition, generation — increasingly powerful and fast-moving.

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It is enormously powerful and develops faster than any rules, bringing benefits but also surveillance, autonomous weapons, deepfakes, biased decisions and concentration of power.

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Misinformation is false information spread without intent to deceive; disinformation is false information spread deliberately to deceive.

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It erodes trust in shared facts, deepens polarisation, and can be weaponised to manipulate elections and sow division, harming democracy and cooperation.

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A few firms shape the digital world and set many rules themselves, with the expertise and incentive to stay ahead of regulators, while being unelected and self-interested.

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States (accountable but border-limited), the companies (fast and expert but self-interested), or international bodies (global reach but slow) — realistically a mix of all three.

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Other borderless technologies (nuclear, aviation, environment) gained real international rules over time, so national regulation, coordination and pressure on firms can work.

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Only partially and with a lag — its speed, borderlessness and private control mean governance narrows the gap rather than closing it, so the goal is realistic, layered governance.