Key Points:

• The “Geopolitics of Information” has shifted the centre of the oft-repeated yet conflicted question regarding who will shape the global political economy, and how.
• Information is now the most valuable and contentious geopolitical resource on the planet. Data is likely the “new oil”.
• In essence, information power is transforming the nature and behaviour of state, which is the foundation of international relations with potentially seismic implications.
• The ubiquity of data and artificial intelligence (AI) will transform diplomacy by increasing both the number of non-governmental actors who influence formal diplomacy and the purposes for which that data is employed.
• The US government sees itself in a tech arms race with the Chinese government. The US recognises the transformative role of new technologies in national security.
• The most interesting conflict ahead is not between China and the United States (US). It is between business elites in both nations who are seeking big profits, and the political elites on both sides who want to protect their countries, and so doing, their own centres of power.