What It Will Take to Bring the Global South into the US AI Alliance

The Trump administration’s AI Action Plan outlines an ambitious global strategy: export the full U.S. AI technology stack—hardware, models, software, applications, and standards—to countries willing to join America’s AI alliance. Its goal is not only to advance the economic interests of U.S. AI firms, but also to prevent allies from turning to Chinese alternatives.

However, if the United States wants to bring Global South partners into its AI orbit and keep them there, it will need to show it can offer long-term value by fostering collaborative partnerships that prioritize local AI capacity building, address specific national development goals, and ensure reliable, sustained access to technology. It will also have to resist any urge to turn its AI efforts into a values contest, instead focusing on cultivating pragmatic economic partnerships.

This raises several critical questions: What should the United States be offering to make its AI proposition the most compelling? Which countries should it prioritize, and how much should it be willing to offer to secure meaningful alignment? And what diplomatic, commercial, and developmental tools will ensure that U.S. AI systems are trusted, relied upon, and chosen over Chinese alternatives?

Join ITIF's Center for Data Innovation for a timely discussion on how the United States can build a durable AI alliance that creates strategic partnerships that are mutually beneficial and contains China’s growing technological influence in the Global South.

• Watch the livestream here or on datainnovation.org.
• Register now.
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