4 minBusiness
AI Race Shifts Focus From Supremacy to Sustainability, Women Leaders Say
At Climate Week and UN General Assembly gatherings in New York, women leaders argue the AI debate should prioritize sustainable infrastructure, energy, and inclusive growth over geopolitical dominance.
The global race for artificial intelligence is being reframed by a growing group of women leaders who argue the contest should be measured less by technological supremacy and more by whether AI can deliver sustainable, broadly shared prosperity. The shift in emphasis came into focus this week in New York, where Climate Week, the United Nations General Assembly, and related gatherings have drawn policymakers, executives, and diplomats to confront the practical challenges of an AI-driven economy.
At the center of that push is the Digital Cooperation Organization, which hosted a dinner with the Embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The event brought together IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, UN Women Executive Director Dr. Sima Sami Bahous, high-level ministers, ambassadors, and corporate leaders. DCO Secretary-General Deemah Al Yahya said the goal is to expand women’s participation in the digital economy, from shaping policy and business models to building resilience and shared prosperity.
The conversation treated AI not as an abstract existential threat but as a practical force already reshaping skills training, energy priorities, safety concerns, and entrepreneurial opportunities. That framing contrasts with the public debate often dominated by five male tech leaders—Sam Altman, Dario Amodei, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jensen Huang—who have spent considerable energy debating whether AI will ultimately destroy humanity. Huang, for his part, has dismissed the doomsday narrative.
The sustainability challenge is both literal and structural. Powering the AI revolution requires data centers, energy sources, critical minerals, and financing on an enormous scale. The Iran War has sent oil prices surging, while federal policy shifts have stalled clean energy investments in the United States at a moment when other countries are pushing forward and businesses are calling for aggressive action on all energy fronts. Policymakers in some jurisdictions have imposed moratoriums on data center buildouts, citing concerns about water use and grid reliability.
Public anxiety over those impacts is intensifying. A Gallup Poll published in May found that 70% of Americans do not want new AI data centers built in their towns and cities. Many worry about spikes in water and electricity costs. The issue has become salient enough that Republican senators are hearing about it routinely on the campaign trail. Sen. Jon Husted of Ohio said data center companies have not done a good job explaining why they should be allowed to develop in communities, adding that such decisions should remain local rather than federal.
Geopolitically, the debate extends to safety standards, job disruption, and the growing power of those building the models, chips, and infrastructure. The United States may dominate the field of large language models, but opportunities for partnership remain wide open. French Minister Delegate Éléonore Caroit pointed to Europe as a pole of stability, noting that countries there have managed to work together and create a large market with rules and predictability. In a world of uncertainty, she said, that matters to investors.
For many of the leaders gathered in New York, the AI race is ultimately a test of state capacity and corporate leadership. The goal is not only to build clean power but to create credible rules, career paths, and capabilities that benefit the many rather than the few. As one participant put it, the best answer is unlikely to come from the loudest men in the room.
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