Skip to main content
BoF Logo

Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.

The BoF Podcast: Angel Investor Ian Hogarth on the Emerging Geopolitics of AI

The race to develop artificial intelligence will define geopolitics in the coming decades, much as oil and nuclear weapons defined the 20th century.
Ian Hogarth speaks on stage during #BoFVOICES | Source: Getty Images for The Business of Fashion
The author has shared a Podcast.You will need to accept and consent to the use of cookies and similar technologies by our third-party partners (including: YouTube, Instagram or Twitter), in order to view embedded content in this article and others you may visit in future.

OXFORDSHIRE, United Kingdom — The race to develop the most sophisticated artificial intelligence will define geopolitics in the coming decades, much as oil and nuclear weapons defined the 20th century, angel investor Ian Hogarth said at VOICES, BoF’s annual gathering for big thinkers.

Machine learning has become so sophisticated that it is spurring a “fundamental speedup” in scientific research and the development of new technology.

“It’s an uncanny feeling you have when you see a system that has no human info fed into it being more competent,” Hogarth said.

His prescription: governments and companies should cooperate to fund AI research and steer its development toward uses that would benefit humanity as a whole, rather than individual nations or corporations. He compared this effort to a “cross between Wikipedia and the United Nations.”

ADVERTISEMENT

“AI should be developed as a global public good, accessible to all people in all countries,” he said.

To subscribe to the BoF Podcast, please follow this link.

Subscribe to BoF Professional for unlimited access to BoF articles, plus exclusive benefits for members.

To contact The Business of Fashion with comments, questions, or speaker ideas please e-mail podcast@businessoffashion.com.

© 2026 The Business of Fashion. All rights reserved. For more information read our Terms & Conditions

More from Technology
Analysis and advice on how technology is disrupting fashion and creating new opportunities.
view more
Latest News & Analysis
Unrivalled, world class journalism across fashion, luxury and beauty industries.
VIEW MORE
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
CONNECT WITH US ON