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Ex-DeepMind Exec Warns AI Arms Race Could End in Disaster

July 8, 2026 at 05:33 EDT

Policy & Regulation

Verity Harding, former global public policy lead at DeepMind, says the US government's nationalistic stance on AI is evidence that a worst-case scenario is taking shape. Speaking to WIRED, Harding argues through her new essay collection *Reframing the AI Arms Race* that the metaphor of an "AI arms race" itself distorts policymaking and international relations, closing off opportunities for cooperation. (WIRED)

Reframing the AI Arms Race · Verity Harding

"The Arms Race Metaphor Is the Danger"

DeepMind's former global policy lead argues the "AI arms race" framing itself distorts policymaking — closing off cooperation and, she warns, driving the US toward its worst-case nationalistic stance.

2016–20

Led DeepMind policy — an era she recalls as rooted in international cooperation

1967

Outer Space Treaty — cooperation achieved even amid superpower confrontation

Middle powers proposed as a coalition against bipolar dominance

Two Framings, Two Futures

Which historical analogy do we choose for AI?

"AI Arms Race"

Nuclear / Manhattan Project analogy — narrows cooperation, delays regulation

Treaty Model

Outer Space Treaty analogy — cooperation is possible even in rivalry

How the Race Narrative Took Hold

TRIGGERS

ChatGPT launch (Nov 2022), COVID-19, war in Ukraine

→

REFRAMED

AI cast as a "West vs. China" civilizational contest

→

OUTCOME

June 2026 nationalistic executive order; export controls force "Mythos" withdrawal

THE PROPOSAL

A coalition of middle powers — Canada, France, Japan, South Korea, India, and the UK — to push back against superpower bipolarity and keep cooperation open.

THE CRITIQUE

The race framing delays regulation, invokes the China threat to protect domestic industry, concentrates power in major labs, and undermines the agency of smaller states.

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