The Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies (BIPSS) successfully convened a high-level roundtable titled “The Avalanche of Artificial Intelligence: Reshaping Markets, States, and Human Identity” on 22 December 2025.
According to a press release, the event featured Director General, International Trade, Investment and Technology and Chief Innovation Officer, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dr Syed Muntasir Mamun as the keynote speaker. The session brought together diplomats, academics, technology experts, and thought leaders to dissect the profound implications of AI on global and national structures.
In his opening President of BIPSS Major General ANM Muniruzzaman framed the urgent necessity of the dialogue. He emphasised that Bangladesh, and the world, are already in the AI age with no possibility of turning back.
He cautioned that what is recognised as AI today represents merely a nascent infancy, and the true scope of its power, including the advent of superintelligence, is yet to be fully realised.
“We need to get to understand this issue very carefully,” General Muniruzzaman stated. “When you have superintelligence, AI will do pretty good inventory. And we need far, far better machine-human interface to operate in any sphere of life of tomorrow.”
He highlighted the immense complexities and challenges ahead, stressing that this new world demands urgent and deep understanding. He also urged that Bangladesh should urgently develop specialised national capacity for AI governance.
In his keynote speech, Dr Syed Muntasir Mamun argued that AI is fundamentally about power, control, and human identity. He moved beyond technical definitions to propose that AI is “everything and anything that we are, and we are not,” representing an all-pervasive form of imagination and content.
He stressed that existing governance structures are ill-equipped for this future, calling for adaptive, agile, and fluid new forms of governance that accompany the citizen in each step of his or her endeavour.
The roundtable featured an engaged panel discussion followed by a vibrant Q&A session with distinguished participants. The audience, comprising senior diplomats, academics, cybersecurity experts, entrepreneurs, and civil society representatives, raised critical concerns ranging from algorithmic bias and data sovereignty to the erosion of social trust, digital inclusion, and the ethical dilemmas surrounding autonomous systems.
The discussion underscored several key themes, including the urgent need for domestic capacity building and proactive policy interventions to prevent the deepening of inequality, the transformation of cybersecurity from a largely defensive practice into a domain of continuous, real-time warfare, and the dual nature of AI as both a creator and destroyer of jobs, highlighting the necessity of just and inclusive transitions.
Participants also emphasised the importance of asserting a strong Global South voice in global AI governance forums to influence and shape the emerging epistemology and normative frameworks of artificial intelligence.
The seminar concluded with a consensus that while AI presents existential questions about control, identity, and sovereignty, it also holds transformative potential. The path forward requires not trepidation but informed, proactive, and inclusive engagement from all sectors of society.
