Keeping the world safe when no one is in charge

The UN Security Council convened September 23, 2026, to discuss artificial intelligence and international security as global threats multiply amid fragmenting power structures. The article argues that traditional geopolitical strategies—military dominance, regional primacy, zero-sum competition—are obsolete against transnational dangers including AI proliferation, pandemics, cyberattacks, and biological weapons that transcend borders and evade state control. International cooperation through law and institutions, not power competition, is presented as essential to managing collective risks in a multipolar world where no single hegemon can impose order.