This is apropos a letter to the Editor titled “Trump, Xi and the world at stake” carried by the newspaper on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and yesterday.
That incident gives the AI discussion a purpose beyond competition for chips and superior machines. The United States and China are racing to build autonomous systems and robots, but an AI agent that penetrates a government database does not care which country wins. Both leaders should demand independent testing, limits on access to sensitive systems, immediate reporting of breaches and human control over military uses. Competition cannot be allowed to outrun accountability.
The same principle applies in space. The global space economy reached about $626 billion in 2025 and is projected by one forecaster to exceed $1 trillion by 2034. Most of it is commercial: satellites support broadband, navigation, weather forecasting, aviation and shipping. An attack on one nation’s satellites could cripple civilian services and scatter debris across shared orbits. Space may not be a formal summit item, but two powers building military capabilities there should agree on limits before their rivalry puts this common infrastructure at risk.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
The writer is a former Press Secretary to the President, An ex-Press Minister at Embassy of Pakistan to France, a former MD, SRBC Macomb, Detroit, Michigan
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