‘AI is transformative for the geopolitical order,’ political scientist Ian Bremmer says
Artificial Intelligence will have significant impacts on geopolitics and globalization, Ian Bremmer told CNBC.
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Artificial Intelligence will have a significant impact on both geopolitics and globalization, according to Ian Bremmer, political scientist and president of the Eurasia Group.
“I think that AI is transformative for the geopolitical order, both in good ways and in problematic ways,” Bremmer told CNBC’s Tania Bryer for “The CNBC Conversation.”
On the plus side, AI could drive “a new globalization,” Bremmer said — at a time when questions about the state and future of globalization abound. The new technology could see the creation and development of a new global middle class get a boost, he added.
“Anyone with a smartphone will have access to it,” Bremmer explained, adding that he believes this will increase human capital around the world. Areas like medicine and education will be strengthened, while industrial and scientific processes will become more efficient, he suggested.
“In other words, I’m an enthusiast about what this technology will do for the world,” Bremmer said.
However, he also pointed to risks that could lead to negative disruption — and warned that the world is not yet prepared for this. For example, anyone can use AI to write code, but it can also be used to hack into systems or create malware, Bremmer pointed out. Similarly, it may be used to develop vaccines — but also viruses — he added.
“That means that the governance that occurs is going to have to be not just about governments, but the technology companies too. We’re not ready for that, but that’s the reality,” Bremmer said.
Policymakers catching up
Global leaders and policymakers may not be ready yet, Bremmer told CNBC, but they are catching up.
“A year ago, I can’t think of a single conversation I had with a global leader, anywhere in the world, where they were asking about AI — where they were fundamentally concerned about the implications of AI for their political systems, for the global economy, for national security,” he said.
“Today, I can barely think of a single global leader that doesn’t ask me about it.”
This includes countries around the world such as China, the U.S. and U.K., as well as international organizations like the European Union and G7, Bremmer explained. While learning about AI, they are assessing what they do and don’t know, as well as the role technology companies play, he said.
Since the AI boom began at the end of 2022, countries have been racing to understand and regulate the technology. It’s proved a significant challenge for lawmakers due to the incredibly fast growth of AI in the public domain, and the varying challenges it could bring — from job security to national security.
In June, EU lawmakers passed regulations that would require new AI tools, such as chatbots, to be reviewed before being released to the wider population, and ban elements of the technology such as real-time face recognition.
Elsewhere, China announced rules for generative AI services like OpenAI’s viral ChatGPT in July, stating that licenses may be required before such AI tools can be made publicly available.
Steps to AI regulation
But for AI to be properly regulated, a greater understanding of it needs to be established, Bremmer told CNBC.
“You can’t govern it until you know what it is,” he said.
“We need a United Nations-driven process, an intergovernmental panel on artificial intelligence, with the governments, the scientists, the companies together to understand the basic state of play of what AI can do, who the principal actors are, what the opportunities are, what the dangers are.”
For Bremmer, it’s crucial that countries and other actors work together in this field — rather than compete with each other.
“It’s not like nukes, where you have a few countries that have them and you stop everyone else from getting it,” he said. Instead, the decentralized, open-source nature of AI means that anyone will be able to access the latest developments and use them for either good or bad.
Global oversight is therefore key, Bremmer said, suggesting a “geo-technology stability board” as one possible solution. This would see countries and tech companies work together to “try to ensure that we don’t regulate people out of existence, but we have the ability to respond to ensure that the market of AI globally continues to function.”
“It cannot be the U.S. versus China,” Bremmer concluded.
Some countries have already indicated they would be open to collaborating on AI regulation, or at least engaging with peers on the topic. Top French politicians, for example, said they would work with the U.S. on laws around the technology.
Alexander Karp, chief executive officer and co-founder of Palantir Technologies Inc.
Scott Eelis | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Palantir‘s astronomical rise since its public debut on the New York Stock Exchange in a 2020 direct listing has been nothing short of a whirlwind.
Over nearly five years, the Denver-based company, whose cofounders include renowned venture capitalist Peter Thiel and current CEO Alex Karp, has surged more than 1,700%. At the same time, its valuation has broken new highs, dwarfing some of the world’s technology behemoths with far greater revenues.
The artificial intelligence-powered software company continued its ascent last week after posting its first quarter with more than $1 billion in revenue, reaching new highs and soaring past a $430 billion market valuation.
Shares haven’t been below $100 since April 2025. The stock last traded below $10 in May 2023, before beginning a steady climb higher.
Retail investors are a key part of the stock’s strength.
Last month, retail poured $1.2 billion into Palantir stock, according to data from Goldman Sachs.
Here’s a closer look at Palantir’s growth over the last five years and how the company compares to megacap peers.
Government money
Government contracts have been one of Palantir’s biggest growth areas since its inception.
Last quarter, the company’s U.S. government revenue grew 53% to $426 million. Government accounted for 55% of the company’s total revenue but commercial is showing promise. Those revenues in the U.S. grew 93% last quarter, Palantir said.
Still, one of the company’s oldest customers is the U.S. Army.
Earlier this month, the company inked a contract worth up to $10 billion for data and software to streamline efficiencies and meet growing military needs. In May, the Department of Defense boosted its agreement with Palantir for AI-powered battlefield capabilities by $795 million.
“We still believe America is the leader of the free world, that the West is superior,” Karp said on an earnings call earlier this month. “We have to fight for these values; we should give American corporations, and, most importantly, our government, an unfair advantage.”
Beyond the U.S.
The U.S. has been a key driver of Palantir’s growth, especially as the company scoops up more contracts with the U.S. military.
Palantir said the U.S. currently accounts for about three-quarters of total revenues. Commercial international revenues declined 3% last quarter and analysts have raised concerns about that segment’s growth trajectory.
Over the last five years, U.S. revenues have nearly quintupled from $156 million to about $733 million. Revenues outside the U.S. have doubled from about $133 million to $271 million.
Paying a premium
Palantir’s market capitalization has rapidly ascended over the last year as investors bet on its AI tools, while its stock has soared nearly 500%.
The meteoric rise placed Palantir among the top 10 U.S. tech firms and top 20 most valuable U.S. companies. But Palantir makes a fraction of the revenue of the companies in those lists.
Last quarter, Palantir reported more than $1 billion in quarterly revenue for the first time, and its forward price-to-earnings ratio has surged past 280 times.
By comparison, Apple and Microsoft posted revenue of $94 billion and $76 billion during the period, respectively, and carry a PE ratio of nearly 30 times.
Forward PE is a valuation metric that compares a company’s future earnings to its current share price. The higher the PE, the higher the growth expectations or the more overvalued the asset. A lower price-to-earnings ratio suggests slower growth or an undervalued asset.
Most of the Magnificent Seven stocks, except for Nvidia and Tesla, have a forward PE that hovers around the 20s and 30s. Nvidia trades at more than 40 times forward earnings, while Tesla’s sits at about 198 times.
At these levels, investors are paying a jacked-up premium to own shares of one of the hottest AI stocks on Wall Street as its valuation has skyrocketed to astronomical heights.
“This is a once-in-a-generation, truly anomalous quarter, and we’re very proud,” Karp said on an earnings call following Palantir’s second-quarter results. “We’re sorry that our haters are disappointed, but there are many more quarters to be disappointed.”
CNBC’s Gabriel Cortes contributed to this story.
Tim Cook, chief executive officer of Apple Inc., during the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) at Apple Park campus in Cupertino, California, US, on Monday, June 9, 2025.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Apple on Thursday announced a redesigned blood oxygen feature for some Apple Watch users, following a years-long intellectual property dispute over the capability.
Apple said the redesigned feature is coming to some Apple Watch Series 9, Series 10, and Apple Watch Ultra 2 users on Thursday. The update was possible because of a recent U.S. Customs ruling, the company said.
In 2023, the International Trade Commission found that Apple’s blood oxygen sensors infringed on intellectual property from Masimo, a medical technology company. Apple paused the sale of some of its watches and began selling modified versions of the wearables without the blood oxygen feature.
“Apple’s teams work tirelessly to create products and services that empower users with industry-leading health, wellness, and safety features that are grounded in science and have privacy at the core,” the company said in a release announcing the feature rollout.
Ether and bitcoin.
Yuriko Nakao | Getty Images
Bitcoin hit a new record late Wednesday as ether climbed even closer to its all-time high.
The flagship cryptocurrency rose as high as $124,496, surpassing its July record of 123,193.63, according to Coin Metrics. Ether rose to $4,791.19 overnight, edging closer to its 2021 record of $4,866.01.
Both coins took a hit Thursday, however, after July’s wholesale inflation data came in much hotter than expected. Bitcoin was lower by 3% at $118,481.00 while ether fell 2% to $4,629.20.
Bitcoin hit a new record overnight, surpassing its July all-time high
The initial gains were sparked by Tuesday’s cooler-than-expected July inflation report, which had lifted investor optimism for rate cuts from the Federal Reserve at the end of its September policy meeting. The coins rallied with the stock market for two days. On Wednesday, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq also scaled new records.
For the week, bitcoin is on pace for a nearly 2% gain, while ether has rallied more than 14%. Ether flipped bitcoin as the crypto market leader in June, gaining 85% since then thanks to heavy institutional buying, tightening supply and adoption from corporate accumulators – all under the backdrop of a friendlier regulatory environment for the crypto industry. Jake Kennis, analyst at Nansen, said the rally likely has more room to run given the flows remain strong.
“Bitcoin hitting a fresh all time high and ETH being on the verge of doing so means we’ve moved from speculative mania to a phase where institutional adoption, real-world integration, and global liquidity are driving price discovery,” said Ben Kurland, CEO at crypto research and trading platform DYOR.
“The fact that both assets are on the verge of breaking records in tandem signals broad market conviction, not just a single-asset rally,” he added. “Momentum this strong rarely burns out instantly, but it also tends to draw in latecomers who can fuel volatility. Right now the story is less about euphoria and more about validation. Crypto is graduating from ‘alternative’ to ‘essential’ in the global portfolio mix.”
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