INTEGRITY IMPACT QUALITY
FROM THE EDITOR Trade wars, real wars, and the AI arms race
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To be in business in 2025 is to be uncertain. Mentioning instability is a bit trite at this point, but global and national politics becomes more chaotic between every edition of The Visionaries. At the time of writing, Israel and Iran are in military conflict, and the US has targeted Iranian nuclear facilities with precision bombing attacks. Meanwhile, the Russia-Ukraine war continues, even if relegated from the top of the news cycle in favour of fresher conflicts. From conventional wars, on to trade wars. Tariffs have been the major trading theme in 2025, as powers like the UK, the EU, and China either negotiate, mitigate, or retaliate in response to the US’s import duties. In many jurisdictions, businesses are dealing with the immediate impact of tariffs, wondering what effect they will have long term, and often hoping that the taxes on their industry or territory will fall as a result of pressure or diplomacy. All the while, business, politics, and the law all have an eye on the two letters that occupy so much of our collective attention: AI.
“Business, politics, and the law all have an eye on the two letters that occupy so much of our collective attention: AI.”
The EU has passed its AI Act, whose provisions started rolling out in 2025 and are set to continue until 2030, when all requirements in the act will apply. Businesses will have assessed the act’s impact on their European operations, but in jurisdictions where there is no AI-specific legislation, companies are asking themselves and their advisers how their AI ambitions are likely to interact with existing laws like intellectual property, consumer protection, human rights, data protection etc. At this frontier, with vast uncharted territory in front of us, businesses will feel (correctly) that there are more questions
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than answers. There is broad consensus that AI’s impact will be hard to overstate, and society is predicting something like a new industrial revolution. That said, it’s plausible that many predictions have got carried away with the excitement; it is extremely difficult to build a strategy if it isn’t clear where projection ends and conjecture begins. Just as AI’s full potential is not always clear, neither are the pitfalls. First-mover advantage could be enough in some sectors to secure an unassailable market lead, but organisations are also extremely cautious that the trailblazer could be the one to make the fatal mistake that costs fines, reputation, and investment. In short, businesses are wondering whether they will be the early bird that gets the worm, or the second mouse that gets the cheese. In the following chapters, IR Global members offer focus and reassurance in a world of turmoil, and in a world full of questions they provide some important guidance towards the answers.
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