The Council on Foreign Relations argues that artificial intelligence is entering a decisive phase defined less by speculative breakthroughs than by the hard realities of governance, adoption, and strategic competition. The era of AI evangelism is giving way to an era of evaluation: the question is no longer “Can AI do this?” but “How well, at what cost, and for whom?” The EU AI Act reaching full implementation by August 2026 is expected to set a global benchmark for regulating high-risk AI systems.
