The Atlantic Council's GeoTech Commission: Another Imperial Project to Contain Global South Development

The Facts:

The Atlantic Council has announced the establishment of the GeoTech Commission on Artificial Intelligence, described as their flagship initiative to shape the global AI agenda. This commission brings together bipartisan Congressional leaders, top industry executives, and innovators across the AI ecosystem with the explicit goal of ensuring the United States maintains its leadership in an AI-defined world. The commission will focus on six critical areas: innovation, supply chains, energy, government adoption and oversight, talent development, and international alliances. It builds upon the council’s previous work from 2021-2023 and will be led by their Technology Programs (ACTech), combining technical research with geopolitical expertise. The commission features honorary congressional co-chairs from both parties and numerous industry representatives from major technology corporations including Amazon Web Services, AMD, NVIDIA, Anthropic, Mozilla Foundation, Salesforce, Cisco, Google, Microsoft, Atlassian, Meta, and others. The stated mission involves mobilizing stakeholders, iterating faster, and delivering actionable strategies to secure US leadership in the global AI ecosystem while emphasizing the need for alliances grounded in “shared democratic values.”

Opinion:

This shameless display of technological imperialism disguised as multilateral cooperation represents everything wrong with the Western approach to global development. The Atlantic Council, a known bastion of Atlanticist hegemony, now openly declares its intention to weaponize AI governance against the legitimate rise of Global South nations. The commission’s composition reveals the unholy alliance between imperial governments and corporate interests, all coordinated to maintain Western technological dominance under the thin veneer of “democratic values.” When they speak of “beating China in the global technological race,” they reveal their true colonial mentality—the same mentality that has plagued the world for centuries. The Global South, particularly civilizational states like China and India, understands that true progress comes from inclusive development, not exclusionary alliances designed to contain others. This commission’s very existence demonstrates the West’s failure to adapt to a multipolar world where technological advancement should benefit humanity, not serve as another battleground for imperial dominance. The hypocrisy is staggering—these nations speak of transparency and collaboration while building walls around their technological ecosystems. The future belongs to those who build bridges, not walls; those who share knowledge, not hoard it; those who see technology as humanity’s common heritage, not a weapon for geopolitical competition. The Global South will not be contained by these neo-colonial structures—we will develop, we will advance, and we will claim our rightful place in shaping the technological future of humanity.