Polarization and Integration in Global AI Research

2026-04-19

AI Summary

This study investigates the evolving structure of the global artificial intelligence (AI) research landscape amid intensifying U.S.–China strategic competition. Leveraging three decades of large-scale AI publication data, the authors employ network analysis to systematically quantify structural shifts in international collaboration and citation networks, comparing observed linkages against randomized baselines. The analysis reveals, for the first time, a pronounced bipolarization in global AI research centered on the United States and China: European countries predominantly align their collaborative ties with the U.S., whereas most developing nations exhibit deeper integration into China’s research ecosystem. This pattern underscores China’s expanding influence within the global AI knowledge network.

Technology Category

• Humans and AI: Human-AI Collaboration / Human-AI Teaming
• Computer Vision: Remote Sensing / Geospatial AI
• Philosophy and Ethics of AI: Bias, Fairness & Equity

Application Category

• Social Networks and Social Media: Generative AI / large language models and their impact on social systems
• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: Research challenges in human and human-AI computation
• Web Mining and Content Analysis: Bridging structured and unstructured data

Abstract

The AI race amplifies security risks and international tensions. While the US restricts mobility and knowledge flows, challenges regulatory efforts to protect its advantage, China leads initiatives of global governance. Both strategies depend on cross-country relationships in AI innovation; yet, how this system evolves is unclear. Here, we measure the processes of polarization and integration in the global AI research over three decades by using large-scale data of scientific publications. Comparing cross-country collaboration and citation links to their random realizations, we find that the US and China have long diverged in both dimensions, forming two poles around which global AI research increasingly revolves. While the United Kingdom and Germany have integrated exclusively with the US, many European countries have converged with both poles. Developing and further developed countries, however, only integrate with China, signaling its expanding influence over the international AI research landscape. Our results inform national science policies and efforts toward global AI regulations.

Problem

• polarization
• integration
• global AI research
• cross-country collaboration
• scientific publications

Innovation

• polarization
• integration
• global AI research
• cross-country collaboration
• scientific publication analysis