16 February 2026

OpenAI‘s Proposed Framework for AI and International Security


Today, OpenAI released a whitepaper titled “AI and International Security Pathways of Impact and Key Uncertainties.” The paper represents an important evolution in how a frontier AI lab is engaging with the international security implications of its own technology. Drawing on interviews with senior national security leaders—including SCSP’s Senior Advisor for Intelligence William Usher, and several external SCSP advisors—the authors lay out a framework for understanding how AI will reshape the balance-of-power between nations.

The paper’s central argument is straightforward: AI is emerging as a distinct domain of geopolitical contestation, comparable to air, land, sea, outer space, and cyberspace. The authors examine three pathways through which AI will affect international security: changes in deterrence and the projection of force; shifts in the resources needed for national power; and transformations in how states understand their competitive

No comments: