Geopolitics & Power
How global power is distributed between states, technology companies, and international institutions — and what this means for who controls AI development and governance.
Trajectory
Decline of state authority
Main driver
Outsourcing of public infrastructure to big tech
Leading actors
Corporate oligopoly; WEF
State in 2040
Corporate oligopoly controls governance
A corporate oligopoly controls the economy and society’s dependence on AI. Governments are increasingly reliant on the technologies of these tech giants as they have outsourced large parts of public digital infrastructure to corporations. States face a choice: comply with corporations’ demands or risk being cut off from essential services. The WEF becomes the central governance platform of a global elite, filling the gap left by traditional intergovernmental structures.