Diplomacy and digital age

1. Introduction

The new digital era has profoundly altered every dimension of human life and the whole geopolitical environment in which diplomacy operates. Defining this new era as digital does not imply any reductionism. It is true that not all new technologies are fully or partially digital, but all of them are deeply intertwined internally and in their common innovative nature. Names and definitions in certain cases are not so important as the generally accepted meaning they convey and sometimes a characterization or description might prove more useful than an inadequate definition. Three issues seem important when dealing with diplomacy in the digital era: first, the characterization of this new era through its most relevant factors, namely, internet and artificial intelligence (AI); second, a description of the main changes new technologies have introduced in traditional diplomacy and, finally, the role of diplomacy in this digital era.

Throughout modern times, scientific rationality molded the so-called Knowledge Society (Drucker, 1969 and Stehr & Ruser, 2017), influencing at the same time, international relations. Conceived as a rational and cohesive system of verifiable knowledge, modern science quickly adopted an empirical approach aimed at general progress. However, the Industrial Revolution prioritized economic progress, providing the resources needed for research and innovation, promoting and expanding scientific development to a level hitherto unknown.

This development had a significant impact on diplomacy, contributing to the emergence of multilateral diplomacy. This book makes historical references to early international organizations associated with telegraphy and radiotelegraphy, reflecting the technical and scientific orientation which the international organizations still preserve (health, climate, biodiversity, energy, nuclear safety, food, water, civil aviation, outer space etc.)

The close interrelation between technical science and economy, fueled by the Industrial Revolution, fostered applied science and specialization. The combination of all these factors has resulted in the technological progress of our time.

Rooted in the realms of data accumulation and instantaneous communication, the internet, social media, artificial intelligence (AI) and automation have propelled the transition from the Knowledge Society (Drucker 1989, 1993) to the Information Society (Duff, 2000; Brooks, 1994), and from the age of the Industrial Revolution to the Technological Revolution (Kuehn & Porter, 1981).

Understanding our digital era in its entirety requires an understanding of its global dimension, inseparable from the internet and social media. If internet has facilitated access to information and communication at a global level, social media have amplified both, creating a space of socioeconomic and intercultural exchanges.

Furthermore, the world has been surrounded by new virtual meridians and parallels, delineating all geographical points on our planet, with no place outside their reach. Innumerable access and exit points are permanently available for everyone everywhere, permitting millions of people to express their opinions and feelings on both real and unreal events, and to interact with each other.

Thus, the Information Society has generated an immense and constant flow of data whose inherent statistical nature grants them inestimable commercial, political and social value.

Private corporations can take advantage of users’ tastes and preferences contained in the data to design productive and commercial strategies, aimed at influencing private consumption to the extent of putting at risk individual privacy.

Public authorities, in addition to or instead of using collected data information to promote better policies, can be faced with authoritarian temptations.

In the social dimension, opinions and emotions expressed in the media, channeled through echo chambers and filter bubbles, can culminate in the construction of powerful narratives that may be used by different groups to exert influence or pressure on national and international decision-makers.

Together with globalization, the second component of the digital era is technologization and automation, i.e, the widespread application of technology in an increasing number of sectors to gain efficiency and the substitution of human work by machines and computerized systems. While globalization is associated with the internet and social media, technologization and automation are linked to AI.

However, all of them are interrelated in a complex way. For their development and functioning, AI and automation require the enormous amounts of data available on the internet. In addition, the vast majority of their applications is done digitally, meaning that both AI and automation depend on the internet and digital technologies to operate.

AI is defined for its technological capacity to artificially perform intelligent functions typically associated to human intelligence. This is achieved through algorithmic automation. Thus, machines, by different methods, have learned to analyze data, recognize regularities and patterns, develop models and simulations, perform sophisticated calculations, anticipate trends, process written and spoken language as well as audio and visual information and contents, make decisions and perform task autonomously.

In addition to these thought-related functions, AI, through automation and robotics, can develop and perform material tasks, both routine and repetitive as well as special and unique ones, including those which require high specialization and extreme precision of execution.

Finally, in its specifically creative function, and beyond its impressive achievements in the cultural and recreative fields, AI has managed to construct a factitious world almost indistinguishable from the real one, a capability akin to the internet.

Internet has woven a virtual universe around narratives, mentally superimposed on and often eclipsing the real one. Generative AI has fabricated spaces where the lines between the real and the unreal are obliterated. While the internet has created an enveloping and encompassing experience, AI provides an immersive and intrusive one. But both potentially threaten the clarity of truth and the perception of reality.

Furthermore, global digitalization has introduced new barriers while eliminating others, all of which has significantly impacted diplomacy. Varying levels of access to the internet and social media have created additional social divisions while amplifying previous ones in and outside states. The United Nations has identified numerous groups whose access to the internet is limited, reducing social, political, and economic opportunities.

Given the deep technological gaps between states, automation and robotics have also contributed to reinforcing international inequality. Forecasts indicate its continuous increase due to the extraordinary speed at which technological innovation advances.