A flurry of deals between the makers of artificial intelligence tools and the companies which design and manufacture the chips which deliver computing power is concerning.
That’s the view of Bill Conner, president and CEO of Jitterbit, a Dallas-based automation platform with AI accountability at its core.
Last week OpenAI and AMD announced that they had signed a multi-billion-dollar chip deal that would give OpenAI founder Sam Altman (pictured) the option to buy 10% in the chipmaker.
The latest deal is among a string of investment commitments which highlight the broader AI industry’s appetite for computing power as companies race toward developing AI technology.
Nvidia has also announced it would invest $100bn in OpenAI, forging a close alliance between two of the leading firms in AI.
With new alliances in this AI arms race, we have to consider the risks that this race brings, says Conner.
“As we have seen with other disruptive technologies, the competitive AI arms race will soon impact the global economy while influencing technical innovation, productivity, market efficiencies and the actual GDP of countries,” he told BusinessCloud.
“This isn’t only a global AI arms race for processing power or chip dominance. It’s a test of trust, transparency, and interoperability at scale where AI, security and privacy are designed together to deliver accountability for governments, businesses and citizens.
“Without clear accountability frameworks, exporting AI risks creating vulnerabilities – turning a strategic asset into a liability, particularly when adversarial actors are quick to exploit weaknesses or manipulate systems to their advantage.”
So what might these guardrails look like?
“Governments and businesses alike must embed transparency, oversight, and validation into their AI deployments so errors are caught before they cascade into larger risks,” says Conner.
“Without that discipline, we risk undermining both trust and long-term AI adoption.
“The challenge now is execution – scaling and adopting AI responsibly in ways that align with security, accuracy, and data privacy standards. Trust will not be won by racing ahead on speed alone; it will be earned by showing that AI can be deployed consistently, transparently, and with accountability at its core.
“The real business transformation opportunity lies in building intelligent automation that is powerful, but also reliable, trustworthy, and resilient.”
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