Davos drills down on cooperation challenges in 2020s

THE World Economic Forum (WEF) has long been perceived by critics as an exclusive club for the world’s elite few. It is therefore ironic, for some, that the theme of this year’s Davos event is rebuilding global cooperation -- for the good of the many -- in the information age.

Criticisms of the legitimacy of WEF aside, the organisation has the right agenda with its advocacy for why greater global cooperation is needed given the convergence of technologies such as artificial intelligence and quantum computing. A revolution in human affairs is brewing, with potentially massive upside opportunity as well as huge downside risks.

For instance, the massive economic benefit of AI is currently driving much market excitement with many investors assuming the nascent technology will turbocharge productivity and rewire the global economy in years to come. However, the risks of AI are also a key global discussion point. Prominent computer scientist and Nobel laureate Geoffrey Hinton, who’s also known as “the godfather of AI”, asserts the technology poses greater global risks than even climate change, and may end humanity.

Another example is the way that technological automation is reconfiguring the labour market eliminating many jobs, while creating large volumes of new ones too in an example of what economist Joseph Schumpeter called “creative destructive”. The impact – both the opportunities and challenges – must be broadly pooled to avoid a deepening of inequality that further threatens the social fabric of society.

As leading thinkers such as the late, former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger and ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt have argued, the coming transformation can enhance human potential if managed cooperatively. However, it could also fracture it more badly if it is mishandled.

Hence the growing need for international policymakers to establish regulations that ensure new technology is used for the benefit of all. Some small steps have been made in this direction.

For instance, the United Kingdom and South Korea have held AI Safety Summits in 2023 and 2024, bringing together world leaders, tech business chiefs, and academics, with France convening an upcoming third one in February. The role of the private sector is key in this discussion as unlike some previous era-defining technological advances – such as space and nuclear – AI is mostly being developed by private companies, including Google, Microsoft and Anthropic.

As AI continues its fast-paced evolution, there are many challenges in developing consistent, coherent regulatory frameworks. This is resulting in an emerging, patchwork quilt of policies globally.

In Europe, for instance, the EU has sought to develop a “first mover” advantage with the first comprehensive AI legislation representing the strictest set of measures anywhere in the world. EU decision-makers hope that, through the so-called “Brussels effect” (that is, developing far-reaching regulations that have a significant bearing on the global business environment outside of Europe), there will be significant convergence around EU standards in coming years.

Another key part of global AI discussions centre around how best to address concerns of an AI “arms race”, especially between the United States and China. Aware of this possibility, Chinese and US officials have held bilateral meetings on AI security in recent years. Top officials, including US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, have focused on how best to reduce risks of AI as well as seize opportunities that come from the technology.

Moreover, US President Joe Biden has signed an executive order that requires US AI system developers that pose risks to national security, the economy, or public health to share the results of safety tests with the US government, in accordance with the US Defense Production Act, before being released to the public. Moreover, China too is moving forward with its own AI regulatory frameworks.

Beyond core AI safety questions is the promotion of greater digital inclusion and sustainable growth from its adoption. Here, there is a need for more flexible education systems and welfare nets to help a broader range of people thrive in the increasingly digital world we live in.

While this agenda is urgent, however, the challenges of international cooperation loom large.

This was highlighted by the WEF and McKinsey in their 2025 barometer of global cooperation released earlier this month. The index uses more than 40 indicators to measure global cooperation across five pillars: trade and cooperation, innovation and technology, health and wellness, climate and natural capital, plus peace and security.

The barometer will be debated during the Davos meetings from Jan 20 which will be attended by thousands of political leaders, including heads of state and government. Plus the more than 1,000 WEF partner companies, other business leaders, and social entrepreneurs.

Perhaps the most striking finding in the 2025 index is that global cooperation in peace and security has fallen to its lowest ever level. The drop in this measure has been precipitous since the pandemic, following the wars in Ukraine and tensions in the Middle East, plus Sudan too.

Elsewhere, the barometer shows a slightly more positive picture. Albeit one where there is a broad flatlining of global cooperation, overall, in trade and cooperation, innovation and technology, health and wellness, climate and natural capital, after around a decade of more positive momentum.

Today, there remains some positive movement in areas such as vaccine distribution, plus natural capital and climate finance given faster electric vehicle rollouts and renewable energy deployment, including solar and wind. However, even with these positives, much more is needed in the push towards net-zero targets. This includes scaling up technologies and securing the financing needed to meet the 2015 Paris treaty climate goals, given that less than 10 per cent of the low-emissions technologies required to hit net zero by 2050 have yet to be deployed.

The WEF-McKinsey index also finds that, despite geopolitical competition for materials such as semiconductors, co-operation in some other key areas of technology and innovation is progressing, partly due to digitisation of the economy. For instance, there has been growth in supply of multiple critical minerals with falling prices of lithium batteries, including for electric cars.

Overall, the barometer therefore reveals a mixed landscape that indicates global cooperation may be at a critical juncture. Certainly, collaboration is possible even within today’s more turbulent context, but now needs to be dialled up.

The index is therefore a call to action to rejuvenate collaborative innovation for shared progress and resilience. If these prizes are realised, more economies can potentially break out of a low-growth, high-debt disequilibrium, and better address grand challenges such as delivering net zero.

The writer is an associate at LSE Ideas at the London School of Economics