Paradoxical impact of artificial intelligence on international relations in defence, cyber security and media dimensions

Luknar, Ivana (author), Prezelj, Iztok (author)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly becoming a key catalyst for transformation within the international system. AI offers both significant potential and serious risks, compelling nations to balance extraordinary opportunities with major challenges. The primary goal of this paper is to analyse and present how AI technologies and their paradoxical socio-technical nature are transforming international relations by accelerating global instability and security threats, and creating new vectors of power, vulnerability, and influence. The paper examines transformative impacts in three critical dimensions: defence, cyber-security, and media. In the defence dimension, we show that emerging autonomous systems across all domains will significantly enhance national warfare capabilities, but will also reinforce strategic competition among states, with episodic live tests in conflicts, and increase the strategic dependency of less capable states. AI will also create more powerful offensive and defensive cyber tools, generating a new cyber-security dilemma, increasing the likelihood of new conflicts, and empowering non-state criminal actors. Additionally, in the media dimension, AI will automate and amplify the production, distribution, and consumption of information and disinformation during peace, crisis, and wartime, influencing public opinion and discourse, and exposing democratic states to informational, political, and diplomatic conflicts with potentially serious effects on inter-state trust and stability.

• Language: English
• Keywords: AI, international relations, defence, cyber-security, media
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FDV - Faculty of Social Sciences
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Publication date: 27.06.2026
• Year: 2026
• Number of pages: Str. 73-92
• Numbering: Vol. 19, no. 2
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-184240
• UDC: 355/359:004.056
• ISSN on article: 1338-1385
• DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.20969830
• COBISS.SI-ID: 283389955
• Publication date in RUL: 02.07.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Journal of comparative politics
• Publisher: Department of Political Science, Center for Analysis of Administrative-Political Processes and Institutions, Alma Mater Europea-European Centre Maribor (AMEU-ECM)
• ISSN: 1338-1385
• COBISS.SI-ID: 29224285

Licences

• License: CC BY-SA 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
• Description: This Creative Commons license is very similar to the regular Attribution license, but requires the release of all derivative works under this same license.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Paradoksni vpliv umetne inteligence na mednarodne odnose na področju obrambe, kibernetske varnosti in medijev

Abstract

Umetna inteligenca (UI) hitro postaja ključni katalizator preobrazbe znotraj mednarodnega sistema. UI ponuja tako pomemben potencial kot resna tveganja, kar države motivira, da uravnotežijo izjemne priložnosti z velikimi izzivi. Glavni cilj članka je analizirati in predstaviti, kako tehnologije UI in njihova paradoksalna družbeno-tehnična narava spreminjajo mednarodne odnose s pospeševanjem globalne nestabilnosti in varnostnih groženj ter ustvarjanjem novih vektorjev moči, ranljivosti in vpliva. Članek analizira preobrazbene vplive v treh ključnih dimenzijah: obrambi, kibernetski varnosti in medijih. V obrambni dimenziji prikazuje, da bodo nastajajoči avtonomni sistemi na vseh področjih znatno izboljšali nacionalne vojaške zmogljivosti, hkrati pa bodo okrepili strateško konkurenco med državami z epizodnimi preizkusi v živo v konfliktih in povečali strateško odvisnost manj sposobnih držav. Umetna inteligenca bo ustvarila tudi močnejša ofenzivna in obrambna kibernetska orodja, kar bo povzročilo novo dilemo na področju kibernetske varnosti, povečalo verjetnost novih konfliktov in opolnomočilo nedržavne kriminalne akterje. Poleg tega bo umetna inteligenca v medijski dimenziji avtomatizirala in okrepila proizvodnjo, distribucijo in porabo informacij in dezinformacij v miru, krizah in vojni, s čimer bo vplivala na javno mnenje in diskurz ter izpostavila demokratične države informacijskim, političnim in diplomatskim konfliktom, ki bi lahko imeli resne posledice za meddržavno zaupanje in stabilnost.

• Keywords: Umetna inteligenca, Mednarodni odnosi, Mednarodna varnost, obramba, digitalna varnost, mediji

Projects

• Funder: ARIS - Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency
• Project number: P5-0206-2018
• Name: Obramboslovje