Tucker, Jason , Engström, Emma J. Hartmann, A. Lott | 2026
Preprint, March 2026. NATO Science for Peace and Security Series: The Role of Transatlantic Cooperation in AI Human Oversight in Defence, Francisco Andrés Pérez (ed.) IOS Press, Amsterdam, and Springer Nature, Dordrecht, in press, expected 2026.
As many NATO states compete in the geopolitical "AI race," their ambitions increasingly depend on energy-and data-intensive infrastructures. Central to this are subsea cables (SSCs), which have been denoted the "arteries of AI". SSCs facilitate the national and transnational transfer of data and electricity necessary for current and future AI development. Despite their criticality, SSCs are highly vulnerable to sabotage and hybrid warfare, carrying profound social, political, economic , and security implications. This paper presents findings from an interdisciplinary expert workshop held in Stockholm in January 2026. The workshop focused on the protection of SSCs within NATO states, specifically the UK and the Nordic-Baltic region, amidst the ongoing geopolitical disorder and decline in multilateralism. We identify a "policy gap" and an "action gap" in protecting SSCs. Regarding the policy gap, the paper sets out three governance mechanisms that could be lever-aged to better protect SSCs, including the reinterpretation of piracy under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the expansion of Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) enforcement, and the adoption of an armed conflict paradigm. Further, we discuss the action gap-while the legal mechanisms to protect these cables exist, many remain hesitant to act upon these. This action gap is explored through a preliminary typology of challenges (legal, geopolitical, global political economy, and technical) that hinder effective policy integration to secure these arteries of AI.
