Keeping the world safe when no one is in charge

What the report says

In an Al Jazeera opinion piece published on 24 October 2026, Norway’s Deputy Foreign Minister Andreas Motzfeldt Kravik argues that artificial intelligence is intensifying global security risks at a time when no single power can impose order. Writing from the perspective of a multipolar world, he says major states are finding it harder to translate military and economic strength into control, while new technologies are making threats harder to contain across borders.

Kravik points to several examples to illustrate the concern, including AI-assisted military systems, the potential for cyberattacks, the spread of dangerous biological knowledge, and the possibility that frontier AI systems could become difficult to control. He argues that these risks cannot be managed by individual countries acting alone, because harmful actors can operate from elsewhere if one state tightens its rules.

The piece says the answer is stronger international cooperation rather than rivalry built around “digital supremacy” or pure national power. Kravik highlights existing institutions such as the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the World Health Organization and the International Atomic Energy Agency as models for monitoring and enforcement, and says recent agreements on pandemics and biodiversity show that global rule-making is still possible.

He also cites Norway’s efforts, including support for UN reform and a joint September initiative by Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store and Finnish President Alexander Stubb calling for global oversight of advanced AI models. The broader significance, as presented by Al Jazeera, is that governments may need to strengthen multilateral institutions before a major crisis forces them to act.