The writer is senior fellow for China and emerging technologies at the Council on Foreign Relations, and former US National Security Council deputy senior director for technology and national security
April 2026 marked a turning point in artificial intelligence: America’s leading AI companies developed models so powerful that they decided not to immediately release them to the public. These systems are the most capable cyberweapons ever built, and AI leaders have warned for years that their arrival would reshape national security. That moment is here.
The consequences of losing the AI arms race are no longer theoretical. AI models are now the decisive offensive and defensive tools in cyber space, and American and allied cyber security depends on maximising the US lead over China in AI.