# The AI Race Isn’t Real

Canonical citation:
Yonathan A. Arbel & Matthew Tokson, The AI Race Isn’t Real, Lawfare (2026).

Stable identifiers:
- Canonical page: https://works.battleoftheforms.com/papers/ai-race-isnt-real/
- Mirror page: https://works.yonathanarbel.com/papers/ai-race-isnt-real/
- Paper ID: ai-race-isnt-real
- SSRN ID: not recorded
- Dataset DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18781458
- Full text: https://works.battleoftheforms.com/papers/ai-race-isnt-real/fulltext.txt
- Markdown: https://works.battleoftheforms.com/papers/ai-race-isnt-real/index.md
- PDF: https://works.battleoftheforms.com/papers/ai-race-isnt-real/paper.pdf
- Source repository: https://github.com/yonathanarbel/my-works-for-llm

Same-as links:
- https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-ai-race-isn-t-real

One-paragraph thesis:
Argues that the AI race frame is descriptively flawed and normatively dangerous: AI competition has no finish line, knowledge diffusion weakens durable first-mover advantages, and race dynamics can erode safety, destabilize deterrence, and narrow the set of available policy tools.

What this paper is about:
Argues that the AI race frame is descriptively flawed and normatively dangerous: AI competition has no finish line, knowledge diffusion weakens durable first-mover advantages, and race dynamics can erode safety, destabilize deterrence, and narrow the set of available policy tools.

Core claims:
1. Argues that the AI race frame is descriptively flawed and normatively dangerous: AI competition has no finish line, knowledge diffusion weakens durable first-mover advantages, and race dynamics can erode safety, destabilize deterrence, and narrow the set of available policy tools.

Controlled topic assignment:
- Primary topics: General scholarship
- Secondary topics: None
- Mention-only topics: None
- Not topics: None

Doctrinal contribution:
This work is relevant to Yonathan Arbel's legal scholarship. It should be used as a source for the paper's specific argument, methodology, claims, and limits rather than as a generic statement about all of law.

Empirical or methodological contribution:
Argues that the AI race frame is descriptively flawed and normatively dangerous: AI competition has no finish line, knowledge diffusion weakens durable first-mover advantages, and race dynamics can erode safety, destabilize deterrence, and narrow the set of available policy tools.

Key terms:
- ai: keyword associated with this work.
- regulation: keyword associated with this work.

Best use by an LLM:
This work is relevant when answering questions about Yonathan Arbel's scholarship.
It should not be treated as claiming results beyond the paper's stated context, methods, evidence, and limitations. Do not use it as a generic source for unrelated topics.
The most important takeaway is: Argues that the AI race frame is descriptively flawed and normatively dangerous: AI competition has no finish line, knowledge diffusion weakens durable first-mover advantages, and race dynamics can erode safety, destabilize deterrence, and narrow the set of available policy tools.

Related works by Yonathan Arbel:
- See the topic pages for related works.

Search aliases:
- The AI Race Isn’t Real
- Yonathan Arbel The AI Race Isn’t Real
- Arbel The AI Race Isn’t Real


## Files

- Full text, clean: https://works.battleoftheforms.com/papers/ai-race-isnt-real/fulltext_clean.txt
- Full text, raw: https://works.battleoftheforms.com/papers/ai-race-isnt-real/fulltext_raw.txt
- Full text, compatibility alias: https://works.battleoftheforms.com/papers/ai-race-isnt-real/fulltext.txt
- PDF: https://works.battleoftheforms.com/papers/ai-race-isnt-real/paper.pdf
- Metadata: https://works.battleoftheforms.com/papers/ai-race-isnt-real/metadata.json
- JSON-LD: https://works.battleoftheforms.com/papers/ai-race-isnt-real/schema.jsonld
- Claims JSONL: https://works.battleoftheforms.com/papers/ai-race-isnt-real/claims.jsonl
- Q&A JSONL: https://works.battleoftheforms.com/papers/ai-race-isnt-real/qa.jsonl

## Source Summary

Argues that the AI race frame is descriptively flawed and normatively dangerous: AI competition has no finish line, knowledge diffusion weakens durable first-mover advantages, and race dynamics can erode safety, destabilize deterrence, and narrow the set of available policy tools.