Building an inclusive AI governance process: takeaways from public consultations

The 2025 AI Action Summit has the potential to be a stepping stone for AI governance, akin to the 1992 Rio Conference for environmental policy:
● A historic high-level meeting to address civilizational challenges with bold commitments;
● A forum for civil society, industry leaders, researchers, and policymakers to design, discuss, and adopt relevant and applicable solutions;
● The foundation for a recurring engagement process for global, multistakeholder AI governance, similar to the COPs after Rio.

To amplify the Summit's inclusivity, legitimacy, and impact, a coalition including the Sciences Po’s Tech & Global Affairs Innovation Hub, AI and Society Institute (ENS-PSL), CNNum, The Future Society, and Make.org, coordinated two open consultations between Sept. and Dec. 2024. Thousands of contributions were received from experts, civil society organizations, and citizens from around the globe, thus enriching the Summit’s upcoming agenda, discussions, and outcomes.

While our increasingly fragmented and polarized digital ecosystems are reminders of the shortcomings of the digital tech policy over the past decades, the voices of 10 000+ citizens and 200+ experts clearly express a strong demand for robust governance of emerging AI technologies, at the national and international level. In this report, the Hub's team provides an analysis bringing together the content of both consultations, outlining priorities and actionable recommendations to protect citizens’ rights, ensure fairness, and maximize the positive impact of AI systems, whilst safeguarding against their risks. Participants call for leveraging AI to address current societal issues such as medical research, climate change, disinformation… and push for inclusive, bottom-up governance where they can remain engaged, from policy design to ongoing evaluation.

The takeaways from the open consultation, combined with the insights from experts and CSOs inform 5 top priorities for the AI Action Summit :

1. The Summit must be a foundational moment for a strong, recurring multistakeholder governance process.
2. It must ensure access to qualitative AI education and training for everyone.
3. The Summit must establish global, verifiable standards for safe, responsible AI
4. The sustainability of AI developments and deployments is non-negotiable, and we must ensure benefits outweigh the costs.
5. The Summit must prioritize AI solutions addressing existing challenges, protecting existing rights

The report was officially presented to special envoy Anne Bouverot, alongside thematic envoys Henri Verdier and Roxanne Varza, as well as an audience of global experts, policymakers, industry leaders, CSO representatives, and academics, during the Athens Roundtable, on December 9, 2024, at the OECD.

Check out the detailed results of each consultation and the deliverables suggested by experts and CSOs by reading the full report: Global report of the consultations among citizens and civil
society actors ahead of the AI Action Summit (PDF, 7,95Mo).