Strategic Foresight - Insights in Business and Technology

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no longer a distant promise—it’s a transformative force reshaping our world. As we stand at this technological inflection point, the path forward demands careful consideration of how we govern, develop, and deploy AI. Drawing from a comprehensive analysis of AI’s trajectory, this post explores five critical themes: oversight of AGI labs, targeted regulation versus deregulation, the accelerating pace of AI progress, the open source AI debate, and the potential for AI-driven institutional regime changes. Each theme is unpacked with real-world use cases, benefits, and challenges to provide a balanced perspective on navigating the AI frontier. 1. Oversight of AGI Labs: A Prudent Step for National Security Theme Overview: Close monitoring of frontier AI labs developing Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) is essential, particularly for national security. Using compute thresholds to identify labs for safety testing and disclosures offers a light-touch, targe...

The Four Horsemen of AI Warfare: Why Palantir, Axon, Cloudflare, and CrowdStrike Are Reshaping Global Security The future of warfare isn't coming; it's already here, and it's powered by artificial intelligence. Forget tanks and fighter jets – the real battleground is digital, and four companies are leading the charge: Palantir, Axon, Cloudflare and CrowdStrike. They're not just participating in the AI arms race; they're defining it. 1. Palantir: Owning the Intelligence Backbone Why it Matters: Palantir isn't just selling software; it's embedding its AI-powered platforms like Gotham and Foundry into the very fabric of military and intelligence operations. From Project Maven's battlefield intelligence to the Space Force's satellite analytics, Palantir is the architect of AI-driven decision-making in high-stakes environments. For the Enterprise and AI: Palantir's AIP is rapidly becoming the standard operating system for enterprise AI. It offers ...

Agentic AI—systems capable of acting independently to achieve goals—stands at a pivotal juncture, reshaping how enterprises operate and compete. Few thinkers are better positioned to guide us through this shift than Daron Acemoglu, the MIT economist whose groundbreaking work on institutions, technology, and prosperity earned him the 2024 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. In a recent provocative piece, Acemoglu presents a binary hypothesis on agentic AI’s future, framing it as a choice between a strategic advisor enhancing human decisions and an autonomous decision-maker steering the ship. This blog traces his background, unpacks his hypothesis chronologically, and expands into a practical roadmap for organisations, covering why it matters, actionable steps, and implications for IT services and products. Let’s dive in.     Background: Who Is Daron Acemoglu? Born on September 3, 1967, in Istanbul, Turkey, Daron Acemoglu is a titan in modern economics. After earning h...

Artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionising the telecommunications industry, enabling communications service providers (CSPs) to tackle growing network complexity, meet evolving customer expectations, and drive innovation. As highlighted by Manish Singh, CTO of Telecom Systems Business at Dell Technologies, AI is being strategically implemented across three critical domains: sovereign AI deployment, enhanced customer experience, and automated network operations. Additionally, an emerging theme, Edge AI for real-time applications, is gaining traction, offering CSPs new opportunities to deliver low-latency, high-performance services. Below, we explore each theme in detail, including specific use cases, pros and cons, real-world examples from global telecom operators, and considerations for total cost of ownership (TCO).     1. Sovereign AI Deployment: Localising AI for Cultural and Regional Relevance Overview Sovereign AI involves developing and deploying AI systems within ...