Robots are seen at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Convention Center in Shanghai, East China, July 16, 2026. [Photo/Xinhua]
The race to develop more powerful artificial intelligence is truly global. So, increasingly, are the risks. An AI system developed in one country may run on infrastructure in another, draw on data stored in a third and affect people everywhere.
No country can govern that chain on its own. Yet meaningful international coordination will remain elusive unless we understand what exactly needs to be governed.
For years, the dominant metaphor was that "data is the new oil". It is memorable, but somewhat misleading. Oil is scarce, costly to extract and depletes through use. In contrast, data is potentially infinite, often surrendered for free and capable of being copied and reused indefinitely.
A better metaphor may be soil.
