On April 25, 2026, at the sub-forum “Global Artificial Intelligence Governance: Bridging the AI Divide and Strengthening North–South Dialogue (II)” of Shanghai Forum 2026, the Center for Global AI Innovative Governance (CGAIG), together with the Fudan Development Institute (FDDI) , the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies (SIIS), and the University of International Relations, jointly released the bilingual think tank report The Global South in the Global Governance Initiative: Roles and Agenda.
On April 25, 2026, the bilingual think tank report The Global South in the Global Governance Initiative: Roles and Agenda was released at Siyuan Auditorium, Guanghua Towers.
The report research team was led by Zhao Long, Director of the Institute for International Strategic and Security Studies. Its members included Tan Xiuying, Liu Zhongwei, Yao Xu, Jiang Tianjiao, Shen Jie, Mo Shengkai, Xie Lei, Hou Weigang, Zhou Zicong, Li Hongmei, Wang Huijie, Luo Haoyue, Gui Yupeng, and other senior, mid-career, and young experts from SIIS, the University of International Relations, FDDI and CGAIG.
The report provides a systematic analysis across five major issue areas. With regard to reform of the global governance system, the report notes that the Global South is enhancing the representativeness and inclusiveness of multilateral mechanisms through constructive participation, while reshaping governance norms around the core demands of fairness, development, and efficiency. With regard to regional peace and security, the report argues that the Global South should uphold multilateralism and strategic autonomy, take “symbiotic security” as its guiding concept, actively explore a path of “developmental security,” and pursue forms of security cooperation distinct from traditional alliance systems. With regard to the resilience of industrial and supply chains, the report states that Global South countries are occupying an increasingly prominent position in the global input-output system, shifting from peripheral nodes to key hubs, and therefore need to take proactive steps to enhance industrial and supply chain resilience. With regard to green transition, the report observes that the Global South has contributed most of the growth in global green energy production, but still faces structural difficulties such as financing discrimination and technological barriers, making it urgent to reshape the cooperation agenda within a framework of climate justice. With regard to artificial intelligence governance, the report argues that the “Global South” is moving from being a passive recipient of rules to becoming a provider of practical AI application models and an explorer of institutional arrangements, and it offers systematic policy recommendations on building a development-oriented governance framework and strengthening South–South coordination on rules.
Cover of the bilingual think tank report The Global South in the Global Governance Initiative: Roles and Agenda
In the section on artificial intelligence governance, Yao Xu, Secretary-General of CGAIG and Associate Research Fellow at FDDI, and Jiang Tianjiao, Deputy Director of the Center for BRICS Studies at Fudan University, Associate Research Fellow FDDI and Research Fellow at CGAIG, among others, contributed to the writing of the report. Focusing on the theme of Global South practices in advancing the institutionalization of artificial intelligence governance, they argue that the core governance demands of Global South countries are now highly clear: to uphold a governance orientation that gives equal weight to security and development, address their own shortfalls in governance capacity, and continuously increase their voice in the formulation of global artificial intelligence rules and the shaping of the global AI agenda. However, these countries face pronounced obstacles in practice. They have long been constrained by technological blockades imposed by developed countries and the one-way spillover of Western governance rules, while also facing multiple internal and external bottlenecks, including insufficient compute resources, weak regulatory and institutional systems, and shortages of interdisciplinary professional talent. As a result, the construction of independent governance systems remains difficult.
Viewed in light of the latest research findings, regions including Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America have already developed distinctive practices in areas such as AI-enabled agriculture, healthcare, meteorology, multilingual models, and green energy, in line with local needs in livelihoods, language and culture, and industrial development. These practices provide Global South models for global governance.
Looking ahead, the institutionalization of artificial intelligence governance in Global South countries should be based on three core pathways. First, they should establish a development-oriented framework for risk governance and advance the construction of institutional systems that are both localized and coordinated. Second, they should use capacity building as a foundation to develop an implementable system of public goods for artificial intelligence governance. Third, they should enhance collective action through “rule coordination in South–South cooperation,” thereby promoting the evolution of the global artificial intelligence governance system toward a more just, balanced, and inclusive form.
In the future, CGAIG will continue to deepen its research in the field of global artificial intelligence governance, actively participate in consultations on international rules and the global agenda-setting, and work with all parties to promote the development of the global artificial intelligence governance system in a fairer, more inclusive, and more sustainable direction, contributing think tank expertise to the building of a community with a shared future for humanity.
Note: Part of the article is quoted from the WeChat official account of the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies.
