Regulatory interdependence in AI

Artificial intelligence (AI) creates manifold challenges for public policy, and authorities try to counter them through regulation of AI’s development and application. Such regulation does not evolve in a vacuum, however. Geopolitical and economic power, as well as technological prowess, are distributed highly unevenly across the globe. Governments therefore confront regulatory interdependence: their own scope for effective regulatory intervention is heavily shaped by what powerful jurisdictions such as the USA, China or the EU do. This chapter analyses the different forms of regulatory interdependence countries confront, lays out how economic interests imperatives can undermine regulatory aims, and how most jurisdictions end up being rule takers in AI regulation, never mind their formal legal authority within their own borders.