This article, by Jon M. Garon, examines technological and geopolitical trends that emerged in 2017 as warning signs of a possible large-scale cyber conflict. Drawing an analogy to the underestimated warning signs before World War I, Garon surveys developments including state-sponsored cyber operations targeting elections and infrastructure, the Equifax breach, the growing maturity of cryptocurrencies, and advances in artificial intelligence, including the grant of citizenship to an AI-driven robot.
Garon argues that these trends, taken together, create conditions that could hasten a broader conflict he terms "Cyber-World War III" if left unmanaged. He frames the piece not as a prediction that such a conflict is inevitable, but as a warning that the technologies involved, including AI as a potential tool of cyberwarfare among states such as North Korea, Russia, and China, must be carefully governed by the public and private sectors.