Abstract
AI governance currently faces three challenges: geopolitical divisions, gaps in independent development capabilities between countries, and the monopoly of large private companies. The short-term outlook is not optimistic and the fragmented trend may continue. Given that the governance system for AI is still in the formation stage, it is necessary to strengthen the perspective of developing countries to avoid the expansion of the technological gap and the 'center-periphery' structure. The United Nations can play a key role in addressing geopolitical divisions and promoting a governance framework that takes into account the interests of developing countries. Countries in the global South need to deepen R&D and innovation cooperation, promote joint development of key technologies, and strive for greater voice in the formulation of AI standards and norms.
Interviewee Profile
Gabriel Merino
Researcher, National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET-Argentina)
Interviewer
Jiang Junji
Research Assistant at the Center for Global AI Innovative Governance
Interview
The United States, Europe, and China have all made progress in various important aspects of AI governance: The EU implemented the AI Act, the US expanded its executive order on AI, and China moved forward with its own AI law. These advances were made according to each actor's own criteria and governance models: regulated innovation in the United States (more favorable to large private corporations), the EU's human rights and data control approach, and China's state control and public promotion. This fragmentation was also evident in the Seoul Summit in October 2024. For its part, it is important to highlight the Shanghai Declaration on Global AI Governance, produced within the framework of the World AI Conference and High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance. I believe that the Shanghai Declaration on Global AI Governance and the recent United Nations resolution on AI capacity building are very important because they express the concerns of developing countries and aim to reduce the gap between the Global South and the Global North.
I believe that the critical issues in global AI governance are: 1) Geopolitical fragmentation and lack of cooperation are detrimental to true democratic global governance. 2) The gap between countries with their own development in this area and those without. This can be a problem for national sovereignty and can lead to the exclusion of a large part of the world's countries from the development of fundamental governance rules. 3) The monopoly of AI by large private corporations and their decisive role in determining the rules of the game can generate undemocratic ecosystems and favor large monopolistic capital over workers in the current technological revolution, concentrating profits in the hands of a few. The main challenges for the Global South in terms of global AI governance are: 1) Developing its own capabilities to actively participate in the ongoing technological revolution and break the center-periphery dynamic. 2) Increasing levels of cooperation to build governance criteria and principles from the Global South. 3) Unifying the Global South in a common policy to have greater weight in global definitions.
Illustration：AI News
The outlook for the future global AI governance is not very encouraging, at least in the immediate future. Global fragmentation is likely to continue, and it is also likely that the interests of the geopolitical West in dominating AI as a strategic technology of the current industrial revolution in order to impose its hegemony will lead to greater dispute with emerging poles, to the detriment of global cooperation. Furthermore, in Latin America and the Caribbean, the United States' express desire to maintain hegemony in the Western Hemisphere at all costs is putting pressure against autonomous developments in this area and against cooperation with other emerging or developing countries. I must express my skepticism about the possibility of convergence in the short term between the visions of the Global North and those of the countries of the Global South. Global governance of AI is in the process of being built, and it is essential that the perspectives of developing countries are strengthened in this process, with the aim of not widening the technological gap, exacerbating the center-periphery dynamic, and excluding the majority of humanity from the construction of the principles and norms of governance of a key technology in the present and in the future.
The UN should play a central role as a democratic global forum representing all countries in the world in the development of common criteria for global AI governance. It could play a key role in combating geopolitical fragmentation and building a form of governance that takes into account the interests of developing countries.
The UN is also key to producing legislation in line with the majority interests of the world's population, aimed at the common good. China plays an important role, as a country linked to the Global South, but at the same time an increasingly important center for this key technology in the current technological-productive revolution. It is essential to deepen cooperation in R&D&I and the joint development of this key technology for the present and future of humanity, especially among developing countries or those in the Global South. On that basis, it is necessary for the Global South to have greater influence in the development of criteria and standards for global AI governance. Key issues in this regard include data management, protection of national sovereignty, reduction of the technological divide, improvement of the population's well-being, distribution of benefits, control of large private monopolies, etc. The BRICS+ countries could be an important forum for analyzing the situation and developing proposals in this regard.
