Disruptive Technologies

States are rapidly developing policies and strategies to ensure that they benefit from the opportunities presented by disruptive strategic technologies. RUSI uses its unique policy and geopolitical expertise to bridge the intellectual and conceptual gaps between technology and policy experts. We assess the effectiveness of current UK and international strategies to design, manage and use disruptive technologies across defence and security – with AI as our principal focus.

Rapid and accelerating advances in technological innovation are taking place in an era of increased geopolitical competition as states seek strategic advantage. Disruptive strategic technologies such as AI often rely on technical capabilities – sensors, computational, data – that are sourced through global supply chains.

The convergence of technology and geopolitics, public and private actors, expert communities, and different technologies will lead to potential societal consequences that are hard to anticipate. This is exacerbated by the fact that those who are developing new technologies and those who devise policies and strategies struggle to understand one another.

Our research looks at disruptive strategic technological applications across both the defence and civilian sectors. In defence, we look at target acquisition, insider threat detection and automated logistics. Meanwhile, across wider society, the programme explores the national security implications of disruptive strategic technologies in areas such as terrorism, cyber, climate and regional power dynamics.

Disruptive strategic technologies can be used maliciously or have unintended consequences for societies. As states develop technology capabilities to advance national security and growth agendas, it is important to acknowledge the limits of these technologies and explore how to mitigate related risks.