Artificial Intelligence as National Power
Implications of the 2025 U.S. National Security Strategy
- Wu, Shaoyuan
Global AI Governance Policy Research Center, EPINOVA LLC
https://orcid.org/0009-0008-0660-8232
Description
This policy brief analyzes the treatment of artificial intelligence in the 2025 U.S. National Security Strategy. It argues that AI is repositioned as a foundational state capability and a cross-domain force multiplier embedded in military power, economic security, technological sovereignty, alliance management, and standards-setting. The brief interprets the strategy as a move from universal AI governance toward capability-driven, sovereign, and alliance-centered AI state capacity.
Abstract
This policy brief examines the implications of the 2025 U.S. National Security Strategy for global AI governance and national power. It argues that the NSS treats artificial intelligence not as an emerging technology but as a foundational state capability linked to military effectiveness, economic resilience, technological sovereignty, alliance alignment, and standards-setting. The analysis identifies a shift from AI regulation toward AI state capacity, interprets the document's limited attention to AI risk governance as strategic silence, and concludes that global AI governance is moving into a fragmented, security-driven, post-breakthrough phase in which political and institutional risks increasingly supersede purely technical risks.
Files
| Name | Type | |
|---|---|---|
| Artificial Intelligence as National Power Implications of the 2025 U.S. National Security Strategy.pdf Full-text PDF of the policy brief | application/pdf | Download |
Keywords
- Artificial intelligence
- AI national power
- 2025 U.S. National Security Strategy
- U.S. national security
- AI state capacity
- AI governance
- AI–State Complex
- Technology sovereignty
- Alliance-centric AI strategy
- AI standards
- Digital power
- Supply-chain control
- Export controls
- Technology blocs
- National security exceptions
- Global AI governance fragmentation
- Post-breakthrough AI development
- Institutional lock-in
- Political risk
- EPINOVA
Subjects
- AI governance
- National security strategy
- Strategic studies
- Technology policy
- U.S. foreign policy
- International relations
- Digital sovereignty
- Geopolitics of AI
- Standards governance
- Alliance politics
- Economic security
- Technology competition
- Public policy
Recommended citation
Wu, S.-Y. (2025). Artificial intelligence as national power: Implications of the 2025 U.S. National Security Strategy (EPINOVA-2025-02-PB). EPINOVA Policy Brief Series on AI-Enabled Warfare, Sustainability, and Global Security Governance. Global AI Governance Research Center, EPINOVA LLC. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18063602. DOI: To be assigned after Crossref membership approval.
APA citation
Wu, S.-Y. (2025). Artificial intelligence as national power: Implications of the 2025 U.S. National Security Strategy (Policy Brief No. EPINOVA-2025-02-PB). Global AI Governance Research Center, EPINOVA LLC. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18063602. DOI: To be assigned after Crossref membership approval.
Alternate identifiers
| Scheme | Identifier | Description |
|---|---|---|
| DOI | 10.5281/zenodo.18063602 | Zenodo/DataCite DOI stated in the PDF and early ORCID-derived metadata record |
| ORCID put-code | 201017536 | ORCID Public API record identifier from early metadata |
| EPINOVA policy brief number | EPINOVA–2025–02–PB | Policy brief number printed in the PDF |
| File name | Artificial Intelligence as National Power Implications of the 2025 U.S. National Security Strategy.pdf | Source PDF file name |
| Short title | Artificial Intelligence as National Power | Short form of the policy brief title |
Related works
| Relation | Identifier | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Related EPINOVA policy brief in the same 2025 policy brief series on AI-enabled warfare, sustainability, and global security governance | 10.5281/zenodo.18037881 |
References
- White House. (2025). National Security Strategy of the United States of America (November 2025). Washington, DC.