OMM Redaksiyası
Artificial intelligence has become a central element of the global power struggle, with the White House under US President Donald Trump bringing together leading technology executives and reviving debate over the emergence of a techno-feudal era, Anadolu Agency reported.
Zafer Kucuksabanoglu, head of the Turkish Artificial Intelligence Policy Association (AIPA), said the meeting offered a snapshot of how a new world order was taking shape. Technology leaders including Elon Musk, Jensen Huang, Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichai, Satya Nadella and Jeff Bezos were seated alongside senior government officials.
He noted that the same billionaires had been given prominent positions at Trump’s inauguration in January 2025, describing the event as an early sign of the changing political and economic landscape.
US-China competition over AI
“This concentration of power is at the heart of the techno-feudalism debate,” Kucuksabanoglu said. He added that Trump’s effort to frame AI as “superintelligence” was more than a change in terminology, representing a political and strategic claim to leadership in advanced technology.
According to Kucuksabanoglu, Trump has described the AI race as primarily a competition between the United States and China and argued that development should not be slowed.
Technology industry leaders have recently called for a slower pace of AI development because of safety concerns. Washington, however, maintains that slowing progress would benefit China, he said.
“The US approach can be summarized as controlling the technology but not slowing down, and enhancing security without losing the pace of innovation,” Kucuksabanoglu said, adding that the future AI debate would be shaped by the balance between those objectives.
Türkiye urged to set its own AI priorities
Kucuksabanoglu said Türkiye needed to take part in the global transformation and urged policymakers to assess what these developments could mean for the country.
He said such assessments should involve not only technology companies but also public institutions, universities, civil society and the private sector. Policymakers and developers should meet more frequently, he added, because major changes in AI can emerge within months, making annual consultations insufficient.
AIPA has launched monthly dialogue meetings intended to bridge the gap between the Turkish public sector’s policymaking perspective and the practical experience of private companies.
Türkiye cannot realistically compete with the US and China in every area of AI at the same scale, Kucuksabanoglu said. Instead, it should select several strategic fields and direct resources toward them.
He pointed to Türkiye’s industrial base and production culture, strengthened through its defense sector, and identified finance, healthcare, logistics, tourism and public services as areas where AI could create significant added value.
Agriculture should also be included, he said, citing possible applications such as improving efficiency and water use, detecting diseases at an early stage and planning crops.
“The US has an innovation- and competition-oriented approach, Europe has a more regulatory model, and China follows a different path,” Kucuksabanoglu said. Türkiye does not have to copy any of them, he added, but should establish its own balance between security and innovation.
Türkiye may not become a leader in every AI field, he said, but it must decide its position in the emerging world order because the issue will affect the economy, production, agriculture, companies, the workforce and global power balances.
