In the long arc of humanity's attempts to govern itself collectively, artificial intelligence may mark the moment when the multilateral experiment met its most serious test. The United Nations, conceived as a place where even small nations could shape the shared future, finds itself watching from the margins as Washington and Beijing race to define the terms of a technology that will touch every economy, every labor market, every information system on earth. What is unfolding is not merely a technological competition but a quiet renegotiation of who gets to decide — and who is simply expected