The Bitter Struggle

Name: The Bitter Struggle
Price: 70.52 AUD
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ISBN: 9798217089482

Superintelligence, Superpowers, and the Fate of the World

Ben Buchanan, Tantum Collins

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Hardback

Forthcoming
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English

Crown Publishing Group, Division of Random House Inc
10 November 2026

Central government policies; Information technology industries; Science funding & policy; Impact of science & technology on society

From two White House veterans, an urgent case for why democracies must achieve preeminence in AI—and a bracing warning about what victory will require

Humanity may soon create AI systems that can outperform humans at virtually every cognitive task. Whoever wields that technology will gain a power unlike any in history. In The Bitter Struggle, Ben Buchanan, who served as the White House Special Advisor for AI, and Tantum Collins, former Director for Technology and National Security, argue that the United States and its democratic allies cannot afford to lose this contest. But how democracies win may matter most of all.

Buchanan and Collins take readers into the briefing rooms where AI CEOs gave private warnings about their own creations, into the Situation Room where Cabinet Secretaries debated how to constrain China’s access to AI technology, and into the Oval Office, where they helped shape President Biden's decisions. From semiconductor factories in Taiwan to city-sized data centers in America, they show why a million chips can matter more than a million troops, why AI progress has been so stunning and yet so predictable, and why the next few years may decide the next few decades. Yet inventing AI is only the first part of the struggle. Democracies must also deploy it—and so far, they are failing.

The deepest challenge is not the contest with autocracy, but the conflict AI will force within democracies themselves. Every choice pits security against liberty, speed against caution, power against principle. This is the bitter struggle. Democracies have every advantage they need to prevail—except, perhaps, the conviction to act.

By: Ben Buchanan, Tantum Collins
Imprint: Crown Publishing Group, Division of Random House Inc
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 235mm, Width: 156mm, Spine: 21mm
Weight: 523g
ISBN: 9798217089482
Pages: 320
Publication Date: 10 November 2026
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Ben Buchanan is the former White House Special Advisor for AI, where he led the development and execution of AI policy with the National Security Council. He is the author of three books and is currently a professor at Johns Hopkins University. As Director for Technology and National Security, Tantum Collins handled AI issues at the National Security Council during the Biden administration. Previously, he served as Assistant Director for Technology Policy at the Office of Science and Technology Policy. Before joining government, he spent five years at Google DeepMind and coauthored the New York Times bestseller Team of Teams. He is currently the CEO of an AI research startup.

Reviews for The Bitter Struggle: Superintelligence, Superpowers, and the Fate of the World

“As artificial intelligence recasts the balance of power, Buchanan and Collins provide an illuminating firsthand account of the U.S. government’s preparation for this once-in-a-century tech revolution. The Bitter Struggle is essential reading for understanding how AI will impact geopolitics, and how the great powers are shaping AI.”—Chris Miller, New York Times bestselling author of Chip War