Most of the talk has been about submarines, but another important aspect of the new Aukus alliance between Australia, the UK and the US is that it defines emerging technologies – particularly artificial intelligence and quantum computing – as first-order national security issues.
As Tom Tugendhat, chair of the Commons’ Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a Twitter thread:
“Bringing together the military industrial complex of these three allies together is a step change in the relationship. We’ve always been interoperable, but this aims at much more. From artificial intelligence to advanced technology the US, UK and Australia will now be able to cost save by increasing platform sharing and innovation costs. Particularly for the smaller two, that’s game-changing.”
Tugendhat is right. The game has changed, and in ways that are only just coming to light. For example, digital innovation has been driven by communications, e-commerce, consumer electronics and...