Digital disruption: artificial intelligence and international trade policy

Abstract

Digitalization of the global economy is occurring apace and has spurred a new wave of trade negotiations, as governments and technology firms vie to establish international rules and standards for the digital era. This article examines the ways that trade policy-makers are responding to artificial intelligence (AI), arguably the most disruptive of the new digital technologies. In a digitalized global economy, trade rules have implications for AI innovation, uptake, and governance, yet existing trade rules have significant shortcomings and need updating in order to assist with effective AI governance. Updating is happening but, so far, the changes focus on promoting AI and disproportionately reflect the interests of large technology firms, the major innovators and owners of AI. New digital trade rules include stringent intellectual property protections for source code and algorithms, and strong commitments to enable the free flow of data across borders. However, much less progress has been made in addressing cross-border risks and harms associated with AI, in areas such as competition policy; ethical, transparent, and accountable use of AI; personal data protection; and protections against the exploitative use of algorithms in consumer and labour markets.

Efficient while Risk-taking

“…Evaluation: AI tools can speed up the assessment of things that need to change by identifying where a policy could be falling short or subject to fraud. What can be clear is that balancing competing political forces during policy-making will never be tidy, but data is the raw material and AI is the tool that can allow policymakers to generate more effective, targeted, and cost-conscious policies that actually improve people's lives [4]. Figure 3 depicts a vivid image of AI's affordances for efficacious policymaking.…”

“…Data are critical for AI. The ability to amass vast datasets is vital to AI innovation, and the operation of AI technologies such as smart devices depends on rapid, real-time, cross-border data flows [4].…”

Artificial intelligence for international business: Its use, challenges, and suggestions for future research and practice

“…Other challenges pertain to the regulatory and policy environment around AI, including cyber security and privacy of people's data, especially as these may need to be shared across countries (Marwala, 2023). AI regulation at an international level is important, and countries are currently discussing these issues at the World Trade Organization level or in regional trade agreements on the implications of AI (Jones, 2023). As countries grapple with different aspects of technology, the number of national and international AI regulatory instruments will likely increase, which might impede innovation (OECD, 2022).…”

“…For this reason, research conducted at the intersection of AI and IB takes on an increasingly multidisciplinary nature (Jarrahi, 2018). According to Jones (2023), there is still a lack of understanding in the literature on AI and IB regarding how AI and related technologies can provide solutions for effective IB and subfunctional areas, as well as how AI‐enabled IB functions link to other operational tasks to deliver improved outcomes for their organizations. This article explores AI's potential roles within IB frameworks to address this gap.…”

Norm Entrepreneurship in Digital Trade: The Singapore-led Wave of Digital Trade Agreements

“…101 Trade agreements have begun to include provisions regulating the use and access of digital technologies, which have an impact on the fundamental rights of individuals, various government interests (such as law enforcement and innovation), and the commercial interests of technology firms. 102 As such, finding the delicate balance between the 96 EU-UK TCA, art 201. 97 multiple interest at stake is a challenge that trade negotiators, like domestic regulators, are now faced with.…”