Press Briefing: Global Dialogue on AI Governance

[Other language spoken]

Welcome to the press briefing of the UN Information Service in Geneva.

Today is Tuesday, 21st of April.

We have the great privilege to start this briefing a little bit earlier to hear from several colleagues who are involved in the artificial intelligence governance processes.

So let's we're waiting for one more person, but let's start already.

I have the great pleasure to have on my right here Excellency Mrs Igrizel de Lopez, the Permanent Representative of El Salvador to the United Nations and to my left.

I don't need to introduce him to you, Amandeep Gill, the UN Tech Envoy and Under Secretary General.

So I'll give them the floor to give you a few introductory remarks.

We will hear also from the other Co chair of of the Global Dialogue on Artificial Intelligence governance was on his way, His Excellency, Mr.

Ryan Thomasa, the Permanent Representative of Estonia to the UN.

We will hear to him from him when he arrives.

Otherwise, I will start now maybe who, who would like to start Ambassador Lopez with some initial remarks and then we will open the floor to questions.

[Other language spoken]

It's a privilege to be here and thank you so much for organising this space with media representatives.

This is an important first global dialogue on AI governance that will happen in the framework of the UN.

And this is not a product that it's an isolation, you know, it's building upon different processes starting from the pack for the future, specifically the Global Digital Compact.

And then what we receive is also a very clear mandate from the member states in a resolution adopted last year that established not only the Global Dialogue, but also the Scientific independent panel that this is something that I'm pretty sure USG will go more into detail.

But what exactly is the Global Dialogue?

This is the first platform, an inclusive 1A universal that will deal about AI governance.

We have to bear in mind that this global dialogue is also happening in in a context where many initiatives on AI are happening, national level, regional.

We also heard of different AI summits happening in in, for instance, led by by France, most recently by India.

And the idea of this first global dialogue is, as I mentioned, to provide this space where any member states can be involved and also different stakeholders.

And this is precisely the nature of this discussion.

The nature of the dialogue is inclusivity and the the intention of the Co chairs is also besides providing these platform for inclusive discussion, it's also if possible to have an action oriented outcome, something more tangible.

Important to note that despite this is the first, as I mentioned, global dialogue happening here in July 67, Geneva, there's already the mandate to have a second global dialogue in New York in May 2027.

So where are we now?

Basically, besides receiving this specific task provided, as I mentioned, by the Member States on having the global dialogue, we have different 7 areas that we have to focus on.

But you can imagine that a global dialogue of this nature, we will expect it to be maybe a week.

This is only two days, so the Co chairs my dear colleague Rain Tanzar and myself who's coming right now.

What we have been doing is engaging with different Member States, but also as I said, different stakeholders to try to come up with a format that could be precisely that inclusive, but also providing the opportunity to hear from everyone about these different topics.

Current context right now from from our end is that we put forward proposal about this, how to structure these first global dialogue.

We have been engaging with Member States, not only in New York, we just finished a visit in Paris, we are here in Geneva.

And then we're going to the second phase to see the detail or more content on the dialogue.

So right now we have this structure, we hope to finalise the format of the dialogue by late this month or early May.

And then as I said, going more into detail on what exactly is going to be discussed.

So up to now, we're still in this process.

[Other language spoken]

So we're doing everything what we can.

And and just to end, maybe to give you an idea about how the day one may look like, besides having, you know, opening ceremony and providing plenary opportunity for Member States and also their stakeholders to take the floor and speak.

We're going to listen to the report of the panel of experts.

They are working right now on this and we're hopefully going to have the opportunity to see the report, I hope beforehand and also have the opportunity to discuss in this.

But we also are going to have multi stakeholders or plenaries sessions precisely on the 1st 2 clusters.

The first one is about AI opportunities, but also implication, not to provide so much detail because as I, as I rightly mentioned, this is still a work in progress.

But what we're talking, it's about societal, cultural, economic dimensions.

And the second cluster is about a topic that it's at the heart and centre of many of the discussion that is the AI divide.

And then we're talking about capacity building, access, digital foundations.

So this is in a snapshot everything that we've been doing since since November last year.

Where are we now?

And and my Co chair is going to work and talk more about the other two clusters and basically the idea of the day two of the global dialogue.

Important to note that this is also going to happen in a very busy but exciting week here in Geneva is going to happen back-to-back with AI for good and also with the Oasis Forum.

So it's kind of we're expecting to have precisely an important participation not only from member state, but different stakeholders, tech experts and so on that are going to be here in Geneva.

So looking forward to see many, many of you in Geneva in July.

And with that, if you allow me, please, please.

I had I've been told that when I started and introduced you all the sound was not on.

[Other language spoken]

We have the privilege to have here His Excellency Mr.

Ryan Tamsar, the Permanent Representative of Estonia to the United Nations and Co Chair of the dialogue.

As Ambassador Lopez said, if you introductory remarks from you, Ambassador.

Yeah, that's right.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much.

But also multi stakeholders academia think tanks different entities would bring the different perspectives and this would be a place where synergy would be forged we know that sometimes UN is accused of being too slow it is true that a lot is happening around But also multi stakeholders, academia, think tanks, different entities would bring the different perspectives and this would be a place where synergy would be forged.

There are very good initiatives around the world.

So we have to assure somehow interoperability between different elements that we see are unfolding on a national level but also on regional level.

So the dialogue ideally would be a place where all these initiatives come together and where we would create hopefully an added value of them.

And of course, we are in already.

We are speaking about the bridge between the second, the first and the second dialogue.

What's going to happen in 2027 in in New York.

So somehow we have to lay foundation for the 2nd and maybe the consecutive dialogues what are going to happen in the future.

But when it comes to the day 2, then we were thinking to open the day with opening plenary in which the summary of day one could be presented, followed by moderated discussion on related governance initiatives and approaches.

And this is also a little bit what we call, you know, at the end, the dialogue of the dialogues.

And this session is designed to reflect and clear and consistent message what we've heard all the way down from the time when we were appointed.

Avoid fragmentation built on existing initiatives.

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And the opening session, opening plenary will be will invite representatives of member states, multi stakeholders and and they would reflect also on the day one.

And then we go to thematic clusters.

And the third one is save secure and trustworthy AI.

And following plenary, we proposed to parallel thematic discussions.

And 1st indeed is on safe, secure and trust of the AI responsible and interoperable approaches.

And the second one, the 4th would be a respecting, protecting and promoting human rights, transparency, accountability and human oversight.

[Other language spoken]

How we how we designed this clusters because in a modalities resolution that is very important document from where we which is a source of legitimacy for us.

There are 7 topics that are prescribed for us.

So we tried to compress them into four different clusters because it would have been impossible to have a meaningful, profound and substantive discussion on all 7 elements.

And so this is how the four clusters were brought.

And, and I have to say about in our previous engagement with member States and stakeholders, of course, you know, there was a clear convergence on the importance of safe, secure and trust for the AI.

And then these priorities, you know, were really highlighted during all our engagement with Member States also in Geneva yesterday, we had a full day of discussions and I think this was coming up again and again.

And that is also important that what is expected from Member States and stakeholders is, is first that we have to move from principles and theoretical discussion to practical implementation.

Avoid duplication already mentioned and and find the interoperable approach.

There's a lot of stuff going on in, as I said, in different areas.

So the Safety cluster will provide a dedicated space for government, civil society, industry and technical experts to share examples of governance frameworks, risk management practises and technical safeguards, all with aim of building on what works and identifying areas that need more attention.

The 4th cluster respecting, protecting and promoting human rights will indeed focus on transparency, accountability and human oversight.

You know what we've heard during our discussions?

Some introductors pointed out that human rights are cross cutting issue.

It is true, but at the same time there were many who said that we have to have a solid separate cluster and human rights and stand alone cluster event.

This allows stakeholders to explore practical experiences in implementing ethical AI compliance practises and oversight mechanisms without diluting attention from our priority.

And of course, it's also a structured environment for discussions on emerging risks for vulnerable communities, including women, children, persons with disability and minority groups.

And, and they too then would move to a multi stakeholder plenary with a high level governmental segment, what we call indeed a dialogue of dialogues.

And, and then from there we would go forward to shaping the way forward multi stakeholder plenary.

And this would be important element in the programme so that we could indeed bridge, but have happened in Geneva during the basically the two days and try to bridge to to build this bridge to the second dialogue.

What is going to happen in New York in 2027 or maybe stop here at the moment.

Thank you very much, Ambassador.

Yeah, we I'm a little bit cautious of the time because we have to stop in a few minutes.

But I like to give the floor to USG Gill for also some remarks and then take a few questions.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you to colleagues at UNIC for bringing us together.

Thank you to the coaches for being here with us.

Very important work that they are leading on.

I'll be very brief.

As was mentioned by the coaches, this is part of a comprehensive approach to the governance of AI for all of humanity.

This dialogue, which brings different perspectives together, creates an inclusive space not only for all member states of the UN, but also different stakeholders, allows us to learn from each other in a very fast-paced scenario of AI and development.

Alongside this, the twin sister of the dialogue, the Independent International Scientific Panel 40 experts Co chaired by Yoshua Bengio and Maria Ressa.

They have met online already, they have launched their work and they'll be meeting later this week, in fact starting tomorrow in Madrid for their first in person meeting.

Their report, as was outlined by the chairs, is due at the dialogue.

It will inform the policy discussions.

So the policy conversation will be science and evidence based, pool perspective, scientific perspectives from a multidisciplinary lens from across the world.

This is how policy discussions should be and the UN is very proud to facilitate this first ever such confluence of science and policy in a fast-paced emerging technology.

Of course, as was again mentioned, there is another important pillar of the world coming out of the Global Digital Compact that is capacity building.

There's a huge AI divide both in terms of capacity to govern, but also capacity to use AI to advance on the Sustainable Development Goals while respecting human rights and human agencies.

So I'll just close by mentioning how this effort is being supported by the SG and the UN system.

The Office for Digital and Emerging Technologies, which was created following the GDC, is joining ITU and UNESCO in supporting the work of the Co chairs.

The dialogue in July would be hosted coordinated by ITU and UNESCO in May 2027 in revert to the Secretariat in New York and the panel work is being coordinated by my office.

We are all working closely together, avoiding duplication and ensuring that this very important priority for Member states is taken forward in an impactful way while looking at the proliferating landscape of discussions on AI.

So as we said, it's a dialogue of dialogues, different streams coming together to create a mighty river.

It's not centralization, but it's horizontal facilitation.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much to the three distinguished speakers.

And I'd like to remind you that this is a digital week in Geneva because of the Commission science and technology and the only is the dialogue that we have mentioned at the last briefing.

So I'll open the floor to questions now.

Let's start in the room.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much for this briefing.

[Other language spoken]

First, I'm listening to you.

I'm just wondering if you could say something on the timing of this.

It seems with AI that it's already a bit late to be governing.

And then I was wondering if you have if there's also an overlap with autonomous lethal weapons and the use of AI in warfare, if that's something that's going to be discussed and how you might be cooperating on that.

And finally, just on the logistics of how journalists are going to have access to, to cover this, who we should be in touch with, you know, what kind of, what kind of press availability you're expecting to have?

[Other language spoken]

Maybe I'll, I'll answer later on, on the last questions because this has been asked by several people, but who would like to take the, the 1st 2 questions.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you so much for for the question.

I guess that I will start with the second one about the overlap with the issue of autonomous weapons.

As I mentioned at the beginning, what we did is that we receive a mandate given by member states according to the resolution adopted last year.

It it's our task to implement what it was being agreed.

And in that resolution, it was clear that the global dialogue will focus about AI in the non military domain.

So in that sense, this issue won't be deal in the global dialogue.

It won't be part of the discussion about the timing that it's a bit late.

We recognise and and also I said that at the beginning that there are many, many initiatives already going on on on AI.

There have been important discussion.

The most recent one happened in India, where we were also engaging with member States and other stakeholders.

But the important thing is that this dialogue will try to provide this inclusive space and building upon what has already been discussed in other settings.

I agree and and I guess my Co chair also mentioned that we sometimes expect or we will hope that the UN will move faster.

But you have to also recognise that this is a mandate provided by the General Assembly where 193 member states are there.

Despite that this is going to be the first dialogue.

What we want is to set the very solid foundations for the future discussion on AI within the most universal platform that we have, that is the United Nations about access logistics.

Logistics are still work in progress with the valuable support of the Joint Secretariat.

Kim it's not only ITU, UNESCO, but also the supported by by audit and there is a still this definition of the processes for the registration not only for you know, member states, but other stakeholders including obviously the media.

Rest assured that we will have more information and when available we will share that with all of you.

Co Chair, yes, no, thank you very much.

Indeed.

I think that it's a member states mandate.

So member states believe and this is of course was negotiated process.

They believe that it's the right time to do something like this because maybe previously the conditions were not there to come up with a suggestion in a form of modalities resolution.

So and then of course, imagine that to come up with regulatory framework could take many, many years.

And I'm not sure about people out there, you know, would like to wait for this to happen.

So we have to start somehow and indeed the idea that there are different fragments of the garments of a governance here and there.

I think this is actually is not in contradiction to what we are trying to do because we tried to bring them to one place platform and to have a meaningful result oriented discussion then there.

So in our engagement with Member States and stakeholders and frankly we've done it's you know in a very extensive way including with a global stakeholders and we would do the next round on 23rd of April.

Last time I think more than 1000 entities registered to harvest dialogue.

[Other language spoken]

So it looks to me that this indicates that there is enthusiasm and hope that UN can be this place where there's different elements, best practises and stuff that is working could be brought together.

And then there would be a synergy and action oriented approach at the end.

And maybe also to, you know, to build up somehow the way forward to the next dialogue and this would be of added value.

[Other language spoken]

Quickly, better late than never.

And I think the we are really in the early stages of what is a very powerful journal purpose technology.

The science panel in fact will help us to see what's coming around the corner, how policies and governance approaches need to be adjusted.

So SG likes to say that we moved at lightning speed, I mean by UN standards to make this space on, on this very, very important subject.

The law's discussion, it's not part of the dialogue, as the chairs have clarified.

That doesn't mean that the UN is not engaged on it.

It's just that these are different forums, the CCW here in Geneva and the first committee in New York.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much.

There are more questions, but we have very, very little time.

So I'll take the first pretty, but not who's been waiting patiently Geneva health policies.

Preeti, you want to ask your question and if we can have a short answer, we can take another one afterwards.

Thanks for taking my question.

This is Preeti Patnaik from Geneva Health Files.

I wanted to know how your forum will be engaging with the with WIPO, ITU and WTO on governing AI and global health.

Is health on on the agenda?

[Other language spoken]

Now, thank you very much for your question.

Again, we've proposed the framework when it comes to a final product.

Of course we would have to design the entire substance of for two days and health of is something that is coming up in our discussions with different interlock tours with IPOITU and and and and ours.

So we would have to look into this one way or an hour, but this is the second, so to say, stage of our work.

But I'm sure about different elements that have been raised that are not yet maybe fully presented in our general framework would be dealt with at the final stage.

[Other language spoken]

I guess that it's important that this is the UN global dialogue on AI.

It's not only one entity or another is the whole UN system.

And this is also the approach that the UN Secretary General wants to steal on this.

So where we're doing is already working despite we have this joint secretariat that is ITU, UNESCO and all that, we are already working with the different UN entities and organisations precisely to build upon their expertise, bring them together and not to, you know, reinvent the will must.

It's just to make it rolled.

So this is rest assured that this is the whole UN system and different topics.

We're pretty sure that will come and that will be discussed as well in the global dialogue.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much.

[Other language spoken]

So John Saracostas, France 24, yes, good, good morning.

[Other language spoken]

Firstly, will your forum be examining the impact of artificial intelligence on copyright?

And will that require overhauling the TRIPS agreement of the WTO?

And secondly, I understand you're not looking at the military component of AI, but are you looking at dual use where civilian surveillance could have military spin offs?

[Other language spoken]

I guess that for the second question, no, I don't think that this is related to the first question that was asks.

And about the copyright issues, there are the seven areas that was that were put forward in the resolution.

They are very general and one of them is precisely the one that I mentioned about the AI implications and opportunities.

Despite there are very general areas of that implication, in the next phase that we're going to be with the Member States and other stakeholders is that we're going to go into the details, specifically what it exactly means implications.

Despite there are very general references decided by Member States in the resolution, that is economic, cultural, linguistics, social, etc.

We will go in the next phase.

The intention of the dialogue, just to be clear, is not to rewrite what has already been decided is not to override the decisions of member states in any other FORA, but just to connect the docs about what has been happening.

And this goes also in line what I mentioned before about bringing together the expertise of the UN entities working already on, on AI.

Just very briefly, I think if you Ambassador Tamsar mentioned that the three and four clusters about safety, they're about responsible AI development, they're about human rights issues around privacy and how AI can be misused.

[Other language spoken]

This is very much a central point of what the UN does in terms of its three pillars.

So the dialogue will not go into the military domain, but these aspects of safety, responsible innovation, respect for human rights would be very much there, as was very, very ably put forth by Ambassador Lopez.

You know, different entities have their own expertise, they don't need to become AI experts.

Who is the repository of health governance, WIPO of indexual property governance.

So I think bringing the AI element into those areas of in depth expertise and that will really allow the UN system across these various domains to be fit for purpose for the AI age and be of more value to their member States and also their stakeholders like the ILO, employers and others as they grapple with the implications of AIR.

I think that's the wise choice that has been made at the UN.

I have to, unfortunately, I apologise with those who were waiting for their questions on the platform.

We have the Deputy Director General of IOM waiting to connect in Khartoum and she only has a very, very little time.

So I have to unfortunately stop this discussion here.

But I'm pretty sure with the coaches and with USG Gill that you will be able to answer the other questions and we will continue this dialogue.

Since you're coming to Geneva.

And I can tell you, Nina, already that we have already requested for the journalist of the Pallet to have access to the dialogue to the public part of the dialogues without more accreditation processes.

So thank you very, very much, USG Gil.

Thank you very much.

Ambassador Lopez, Ambassador Tamzar and I will just ask you to stay on the line.

We keep the same line to speak with IOM Director, Deputy Director General, give me one second to say goodbye to our guests.