Artificial intelligence is increasingly reshaping geopolitical competition, not as a standalone capability, but as a multiplier of power, asymmetry, and escalation. This article examines how AI accelerates strategic dynamics by compressing decision timelines, amplifying influence operations, and blurring attribution across cyber, information, and economic domains. Integrating perspectives from cybersecurity, digital forensics, and AI governance, the analysis shows how AI-enabled systems alter traditional assumptions of deterrence and proportionality, favouring actors able to exploit opacity, automation, and ambiguity. Power becomes less visible yet more pervasive, while accountability and response mechanisms struggle to keep pace with algorithmically accelerated operations. The article argues that effective AI governance must be understood as strategic infrastructure, embedding forensic traceability, decision oversight, and institutional resilience into AI-enabled security and policy frameworks. Without such governance, AI risks transforming geopolitical rivalry into unmanaged escalation. The study concludes that governing AI is essential not only for technological control, but for maintaining stability in an increasingly automated international order.