Global Network Initiative

As companies around the world race to build increasingly powerful frontier models, it becomes ever more important to ask what governs AI and how we choose to shape its future. In the latest video from our MAP-AI Talks series, Amrita Choudhury, Director of the Consortium of Cyber-cafes Association of India (CCAOI), shares her perspective on how AI can transform the way we reduce digital divides and inequalities. With critical convenings on AI governance coming up as part of the UN General Assembly (UNGA), the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), and the Swiss Summit 2027, the series ‘MAP-AI Talks’ revisits some of the insights we heard from the ecosystem during our February convening in New Delhi on the sidelines of the India AI Impact Summit. This series aims to resurface critical perspectives on AI governance, reflect on where we are, and clarify our goals as we prepare for the next leg of our multistakeholder engagements. Visit our website to learn more about our MAP-AI initiative with Centre for Communication Governance. https://lnkd.in/gnHm2zft

AI governance is at a turning point, and human rights must be at its center. 🌐 Today, MAP-AI is publishing Centering Human Rights in AI Governance, an open letter endorsed by a broad cross-section of 80 individuals and organizations from around the world. Building on the conversations from the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi to the UN Global Dialogue in Geneva, the letter calls on governments, companies, and the UN to ground AI governance in international human rights law, build on existing frameworks and lessons learned, and focus on today's lived realities alongside tomorrow's technological frontier. MAP-AI's letter calls for: → Governments to use IHRL as the basis for international cooperation and their own AI rules, developed through open processes and subject to due process, oversight, transparency, and accountability → Companies across the AI value chain to commit to, or deepen their implementation of, the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct, and the GNI Principles → Inclusive, participatory processes, with civil society, academia, the technical community, and other stakeholders deeply involved, because urgency shouldn't come at the cost of inclusivity → An ecosystem approach in place of a single treaty or global regulator: the UN's Scientific Panel and Global Dialogue on AI Governance should set a shared agenda, and the state-led AI Summits, including the upcoming Geneva AI Summit, should mobilize resources and hold actors accountable to their commitments Thank you to everyone who endorsed the letter. Read it in full here: https://lnkd.in/gGcTGsNt #MAPAI #AIGovernance #HumanRights #BusinessAndHumanRights

How can we govern AI in a way that addresses its risks while protecting rights and ensuring that different parts of society have a meaningful role in shaping the decisions that affect them? This question is becoming increasingly important as AI is integrated into more sectors, services and institutions. Questions around safety, accountability, privacy, cybersecurity and freedom of expression cannot always be addressed from a single perspective. Governments, companies, civil society, researchers and other stakeholders bring different responsibilities, expertise and interests to the governance of these technologies. For AI governance in particular, this creates an important challenge. Multistakeholder approaches are increasingly discussed as a way to bring these perspectives together, but participation alone does not guarantee effective governance. The key question is how these models can help identify risks, manage competing interests and translate different perspectives into practical approaches to accountability and decision-making. On 12 October at 17:00 CEST, I will have the pleasure of discussing these questions in a 30-minute webinar with Elonnai Hickok, Managing Director of the Global Network Initiative, on “Governing AI Together: Rights, Risk and Multistakeholder Leadership.” Elonnai works at the intersection of digital rights, emerging technologies and international policy. As Managing Director of the Global Network Initiative, she works within a multistakeholder organisation bringing together companies, civil society organisations, academics and investors around the advancement of freedom of expression and privacy. Her work has addressed privacy, cybersecurity, surveillance, intermediary liability and artificial intelligence. She also co-chairs the Freedom Online Coalition Advisory Network and serves as a member of the GIFCT Independent Advisory Committee and the Christchurch Call Advisory Network. Drawing on this experience, we will explore what effective multistakeholder AI governance can look like in practice, how risk assessments can help identify broader societal impacts, how governments can address safety and cybersecurity concerns while protecting privacy and freedom of expression, and what lessons from company-level and national governance approaches could help inform the development of international AI governance. The webinar is brought to you in collaboration with the Young AI Leaders | Madrid Hub, Young AI Leaders | Mexico City Hub, Young AI Leaders | Geneva Hub, Young AI Leaders | Bogota Hub, CIeS e-Health Innovation Center, EHFF European Health Futures Forum, MAP-AI — Multistakeholder Approaches to Participation in AI Governance, Centre for Communication Governance(CCG), National Law University Delhi, Global Network Initiative, Global Shapers Madrid Hub and TheTowerofInnovation. Registration: https://luma.com/cuf81ftk

Beyond AI Safety: Why Africa Needs Sovereignty and Agency in Global AI Governance We're pleased to share a new piece by Lillian Nalwoga, reflecting on the inaugural United Nations Global AI Dialogue (UNGDAI). Read Lillian's full reflections, part of our Multistakeholder Approaches to Participation in AI Governance (MAP-AI) project: https://lnkd.in/gu5S8Rm5 Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA) Centre for Communication Governance

A Pivotal Moment for AI for All: How we focus our research and engagement for the UNGDAI Following the UNGDAI's inaugural session in July 2026, Pria Chetty, Executive Director at Research ICT Africa, lays out where the Global Dialogue must go next if it's to avoid entrenching a neo-colonial value chain in AI, and instead deliver a just, equitable AI beneficiation framework for all. The task ahead is making the UNGDAI a real apparatus for structural redistribution, not just a surveyor of the current digital contest. Read the full piece here: https://lnkd.in/g-q5VDRr #AIGovernance #DigitalRights #UNGDAI #JustAI #GlobalSouth

As companies around the world race to build increasingly powerful frontier models, it becomes ever more important to ask what governs AI and how we choose to shape its future. In the latest video from our MAP-AI Talks series, Shita Laksmi, Supervisory Board member of SAFEnet, shares her perspective on AI increasingly becoming a tool of geopolitical power and influence, with profound implications for vulnerable communities. With critical convenings on AI governance coming up as part of the UN General Assembly (UNGA), the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), and the Swiss Summit 2027, the series ‘MAP-AI Talks’ revisits some of the insights we heard from the ecosystem during our February convening in New Delhi on the sidelines of the India AI Impact Summit. This series aims to resurface critical perspectives on AI governance, reflect on where we are, and clarify our goals as we prepare for the next leg of our multistakeholder engagements. Visit our website to learn more about our MAP-AI initiative with Centre for Communication Governance: https://lnkd.in/gCC4bQqe

The Global Network Initiative is pleased to publish our latest policy brief, “Why Independent Regulation Matters for #Bangladesh’s Digital Future: Proposed Way Forward to Protect Users’ Rights.” (https://lnkd.in/gWkMv-2u) As Bangladesh implements a new generation of digital laws, including the #Cyber Protection Act, Personal #Data Protection Act, National Data Management Act, and amendments to the #Telecommunication Act, the brief examines the critical role of independent, transparent, and participatory regulation in protecting user rights, building public trust, and providing regulatory certainty for businesses, investors, and innovators. Drawing on two decades of experience engaging with governments on international human rights frameworks and industry best practices, as well as extensive engagements with local stakeholders over the last two years, GNI’s brief highlights that how regulations are developed and enforced is as important as their substance. It emphasizes moving beyond centralized, top-down approaches toward better regulation that is independently and responsibly administered.

As companies around the world race to build increasingly powerful frontier models, it becomes ever more important to ask what governs AI and how we choose to shape its future. In the latest video from our MAP-AI Talks series, Amba Kak, Co-Executive Director at the AI Now Institute, shares her perspective on the need for greater investment in independent scrutiny, evaluation, and oversight in the realm of AI safety. With critical convenings on AI governance coming up as part of the UN General Assembly (UNGA), the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), and the Swiss Summit 2027, the series ‘MAP-AI Talks’ revisits some of the insights we heard from the ecosystem during our February convening in New Delhi on the sidelines of the India AI Impact Summit. This series aims to resurface critical perspectives on AI governance, reflect on where we are, and clarify our goals as we prepare for the next leg of our multistakeholder engagements. Visit our website to learn more about our MAP-AI initiative with the Centre for Communication Governance: https://lnkd.in/gQAffnrA https://lnkd.in/gCkER8SM

#GNI2025AnnualReport From 🇧🇩 Bangladesh to 🇿🇲 Zambia, across a range of topics like #data protection, #cybercrime, #sustainability reporting, and global #AI governance, GNI’s policy work in 2025 cut across issues, geographies, and levels of governance. Through these efforts, we brought human rights expertise and #multistakeholder perspectives into policy debates on content regulation, connectivity and platform blockades, biometric tracking, encryption, Internet governance, AI, and more. GNI engaged at national, regional, and global levels, working with policymakers and partners through forums including the UN, ASEAN, and the EU. 🌐 We also invested in strengthening the voices shaping the future of technology governance. Through initiatives, such as our ICANN-funded work on #WSIS and MAP-AI, GNI worked with partners across the Global Majority to bring more diverse perspectives into important Internet and AI governance processes. The overarching goal of our policy work is to ensure that human rights and meaningful multistakeholder participation remain centered within relevant processes as technology and regulation continue to evolve. Take a closer look at GNI’s policy engagement in 2025.