KURBALIJA J. - Digital Diplomacy : Social Media, Big Data and Artificial Intelligence (8h)

How can the European Union position itself in digital geopolitics, at a time when artificial intelligence (AI) and big data are increasingly regarded as geopolitical resources that preoccupy many policy discussions. Metaphors of data as the ‘new gold’ or comparisons of the 20th century space race with present-day competition on AI are just some illustrations of their strategic value. Far from being solely a topic on the diplomatic agenda, disruptive technologies are increasingly shaping the conduct of diplomacy and international relations. But, without a major tech company, does Europe stand the risk of becoming ‘third world’ of the digital world? Can EU’s regulatory (e.g. GDPR, upcoming legislation on AI) efforts help it lead by example or did the recent US measures against tech giants (e.g. Huawei, TikTok) alleviate the playing field?

The digital diplomacy seminar aims to explore the impact of digital policy on geopolitics and therefore assess the implications of emerging digital governance issues such as AI ethics, privacy and data protection, cybersecurity, etc. on the global state of affairs. It will also tackle how e-tools including social media and data-mining are changing the diplomatic profession.

Professor: Jovan KURBALIJA