Artificial Intelligence and State Power

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly ubiquitous, transforming our everyday lives. AI is expected to improve human life amid growing concerns that unregulated AI could lead to disastrous outcomes. AI algorithms have become complex and more challenging to follow. The disruptive nature of AI is seen in state power through surveillance, facial recognition, and deployment of lethal autonomous weapons systems by superpowers. This review paper analyses how AI is deployed for state power to enhance policing and military operations. AI deployment by the police and army increases operational excellence and efficiency and offers simulated training, and predictive capabilities, while unregulated use raises ethical and human rights violations. Given the foreseeable pervasiveness and rapid AI development, more research is required to restrict coercive state power. This review paper raises awareness of AI's affordances and contributes to emergent literature on constraints and ethical and legal issues. It raises interest among scholars, policymakers, and practitioners for collaborative research. AI will reinforce the technology divide as developing countries face infrastructural, financial and digital skills barriers. The review concludes with future research implications.