The panel explored how artificial intelligence has become the central strategic technology of our time - reshaping warfare, economic power, and the architecture of alliances. Beyond battlefield uses like reconnaissance, drone co-piloting and demining, AI is a geopolitical accelerant that transforms supply chains, trade relationships and the control of critical infrastructure. Rising conflicts and fractured global agendas have increased the urgency to couple democratic values with material resilience - securing critical minerals, building sovereign software stacks and ensuring trusted supply chains are now core elements of security policy.

Speakers warned that the global AI race will reorder influence the way the nuclear arms race did eight decades ago - whoever has the technical standards and secures the supply of chips and materials will shape the rules of the era. The United States has responded with a mixture of heavy private investment, export oversight and allied support through an AI Marshall Plan-style approach to embed trusted technology across partner states. China pursues a whole-of-nation strategy - investing in research, supercomputing and domestic champions. Europe, with its normative strengths, must now match them with strategic capital, industrial policy and diplomatic partnerships to establish a European Silicon Shield. Panelists argued that building the shield requires adoptability and speed, friend-shoring of raw-material sources, interoperable regulatory standards, centralized EU-level digital forensics for rapid response to information threats, and clear governance of AI systems.

Highlights from the discussion

Dr. Todor Galev, Director of Research, Center for the Study of Democracy

“We have a good talent pool that produces academic research, but we do not commercialize it. We miss tech champions. We also need to attract constructive capital that does not come from authoritarian states.”

Changick Kim, Dean, Graduate School of Advanced Security Science and Technology, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology

“In South Korea, the government provides financial support and sets up strong AI and IT programs in universities, as well as specialized schools. The national strategy also relies on close cooperation between universities and major companies such as LG, Samsung, and Hyundai. However, our AI-based economy remains fragile, as AI jailbreaking can bypass ethical safeguards. Therefore, each country should develop its own security systems.”

Dobroslav Dimitrov, Co-Founder and CEO, Raisen Technology

“You have to be either the largest or the most adaptable to survive. China and the USA are giants; everyone else should play adaptive defense. The problem with Europe lies in its slow processes, the sluggish adoption of reforms, and the delayed disbursement of funding. For example, DeepMind was European technology, but not anymore. We also need to remove the Strategic Foreign Outsourcers (SFOs) from the equation. If we want security, we cannot depend on countries outside the European Union.”