On the occasion of the Munich Security Conference 2026, a roundtable was held at the European Parliament Office in Munich on 13 February, hosted by Ahead in partnership with Bitsight.
Entitled “Artificial Intelligence as a Geopolitical Force: Rethinking Diplomacy and Governance in an Era of Disorder”, the event brought together policymakers and leading experts in international affairs to gather in an exchange about the European Union’s role not only as a regulatory authority, but as a credible and influential geopolitical actor in the age of artificial intelligence.
The roundtable was attended by IEAI Visiting Professor Dr. David Barnes and IEAI alignAI doctoral candidate Julia Li.
Ms. Li was invited through AHEAD (led by Lucia de Luca and Girija Shivakuma) and Dr. Udo Bux, Head of the European Parliament Liaison Office in Germany who was part of a conversation on EU legislation in the field of intellectual property and artificial intelligence at IEAI last year.
This event brought together individuals from all over the world with an interest in the role that AI will have in the world stage and yet everyone had many of the same questions on their mind: Is the EU taking the right approach with applying regulations on AI? How will actions taken now affect the balance of world powers, and what role does Europe see itself playing? How does the EU ensure its independence in the push between states to grow ever-more powerful models?
Ms Li’s takeaways from the roundtable discussion were:
1) We need more diversity in AI. Specifically, we need more women and gender-diverse individuals, and we need people from the Global majority. It’s not just that their voices are still severely underrepresented, but it’s that their interests are also undervalued.
2) Discussions about the economic impact of AI must include discussions about inequalities, both globally, and within states and communities.
3) Discussions about regulation should also include ongoing conversations with people who are enacting, enforcing, and being impacted by those regulations. We need to figure out how abstract rules work on the ground level and adjust accordingly to the needs of real people.
4) We should not ignore philosophical discussions about AI systems and what it means to be “ethical”, “value-aligned” or “autonomous”. Establishing some common understanding of the benefits and failures of this common language is essential for discussions that reach across political and ideological divides.
5) We need to scan the room and recognise that stakeholders are missing from conversations. People who represent the interests of the environment, biodiversity, sustainability, aren’t often included in these dialogues.
6) Translating research is more important than ever right now in this field. The intricacies of value-alignment can seem very opaque, even to scientists. Policymakers, businesses and the public should be able to have some basic information on what AI is in order to have informed opinions.
Overall, this event was a fascinating insight into how discourse operates at high-level exchanges and Ms. Li hopes to be able to incorporate these takeaways into her work.