Diplomacy in the Digital Age: How the Internet and AI Challenge Traditional State Interactions

The internet revolution has undoubtedly changed how humans go about living their lives. One sector that has embraced the age of the internet is the field of diplomacy. Researchers and practitioners have taken a keen interest in developing and finding new ways to enhance their interactions with both the public and other diplomatic missions, leading to the creation of digital diplomacy. It is important to address this recent phenomenon since it has attracted a great deal of interest, controversy and speculation. This paper aims to initially trace and analyse the evolution of the term and then focus on the increasing chatter about the employment of Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in the determination of foreign policy and its implementation and subsequently argue that although the internet has created positive tools for diplomats and statesmen to engage in public diplomacy, there is unnecessary guesswork over the use of AI in diplomacy. Academic literature, opinion pieces and newspaper stories have been used as secondary sources in this essay. The qualitative, as well as quantitative research, was then analysed in order to determine the effects of new technologies on diplomacy