… AI gains rest on publicly funded research, government-backed infrastructure, decades of scientific work, and the labor of people throughout the supply chain — from chip fabrication to data labeling to content moderation, Brown said. …
… Hardware needs supply chains. Supply chains, today, run through China. China controls roughly 60% of global rare-earth mining and 90% of refining, 98% of the lithium battery supply chain , and about 94% of the world’s high-performance permanent magnets used in motors and drones. …
… FrugalGPT and other frugal AI tech are thus increasingly important.” With supply chain constraints and crises such as the Iran war creating other bottlenecks, frugal AI is also vital for a country’s tech sovereignty as a growing number of economic activities come to rely on foreign AI models, Sebas… …
… While the U.S. has declared Anthropic a supply-chain risk, the Chinese army “is fostering an ecosystem for rapid AI development that connects novel research with frontline operations,” they said. …
… Ali Bakir, an assistant professor of international affairs at Qatar University, was more direct: “The security frameworks underpinning the U.S.-UAE AI partnership appear to have focused on supply chain control and geopolitical alignment, not on physical defense during high-intensity conflict.” It w… …
… This, in turn, is slowing production and straining tech supply chains at a time when a chip shortage is already driving up the cost of smartphones and tablets, just another ripple effect from the conflict. …
… The Gulf strikes demonstrate “where AI-era conflict is heading,” Miah Hammond-Errey, founding chief executive of Strat Futures, a risk consultancy, wrote in a blog post for The Lowy Institute. “Governments have integrated classified military and intelligence systems so deeply into commercial infras…
… They are now pushing for data sovereignty, local talent, and better terms from foreign providers, the experts said. “Africa’s push for digital sovereignty cannot mean total independence from global AI supply chains,” Rachel Adams, founder of the Global Center on AI Governance, told Rest of World . … …
… Labor in low and middle-income countries powers AI via content moderation, data labeling , and even humans masquerading as AI . These countries have critical minerals used throughout the AI supply chain. …