Consultation on the Global Dialogue on AI Governance - EU statement

Consultation on the Global Dialogue on AI Governance - EU statement

Consultation on the Global Dialogue on Artificial Intelligence (AI) Governance

Organized by ITU and Switzerland

EU statement

Excellencies, dear colleagues,

I have the honour to deliver this statement on behalf of the European Union and its Member States.

Let me start by thanking you, distinguished co-Chairs, for your leadership and the extensive consultations you have been conducting in preparation for the first edition of the Global Dialogue on AI Governance.

Let me especially thank the co-Chairs and also the ITU and Switzerland for organising today's consultation in Geneva. As you know, the interaction between New York and Geneva is key for the success of the Global AI Dialogue.

The EU and its Member States are currently preparing a written input which we will submit in New York by the end of the month, as per your invitation. Today, let me briefly outline some of our core objectives for the Dialogue, centered on the principles of synergy, universality, inclusivity, and the primacy of international law.

To ensure the Dialogue provides real added value, it is of utmost importance to avoid further fragmentation of the international AI governance landscape. The benefits of the Dialogue will therefore lie first and foremost in its universal mandate and inclusive nature, as well as its ability to acknowledge and bring coherence, in an interoperable and compatible way, to existing international initiatives on AI.

The Dialogue's success will also depend on its ability to move beyond traditional UN plenary sessions, and act as a genuine multistakeholder platform. We therefore expect participatory and interactive sessions, through open, transparent and inclusive dialogue, with a focus on practical exchange of ideas and experiences, in order to come up with concrete proposals and enable new partnerships.

The Dialogue should contribute to building the UN membership's capacity in and understanding of AI by fostering knowledge-sharing, common understanding, and exchange of experiences, in a way that benefits all stakeholders, particularly from developing countries.

We therefore suggest framing the Dialogue around how AI can serve the public interest by contributing, among other things, to the implementation and operationalization of the GDC, the achievement of the SDGs, closing the digital divides, and strengthening the respect for and the promotion and protection of human rights, as well as concrete factors to achieve this goal.

Contributing to these objectives, the Dialogue could identify meaningful ways to progress on questions of international cooperation; compatibility and interoperability of governance approaches; sustainability; transparency; accountability; safety, security, and trustworthiness, including promoting information integrity; as well as accessibility, multilingualism, gender equality, environmental impact, and ethical use of AI - keeping human oversight and well-being at the center of the approach.

We encourage the preparation of the dialogue with concrete input from all stakeholders as well as with active roles by all stakeholders, including organising and conducting specific formats. We also encourage ensuring cross-stakeholder mix in participation so that we avoid silos to be replicated. With dedicated input the multistakeholder inclusion can be made transparent to all.

The Dialogue should specifically address the issue of child safety and the promotion and protection of children's rights in the use of AI, as well as the operationalization of the human-centric approach to the life cycle of digital and emerging technologies. The Scientific Panel's work will be essential as an analytical input for these conversations, supporting evidence-based insights for policy reflection.

We therefore broadly welcome the overall structure proposed by the co-Chairs, which already includes a lot of those themes and demonstrates a genuine effort to ensure multi-stakeholder discussions. This has already been discussed in New York recently and I will therefore not repeat our detailed requests regarding the structure.

Excellencies, dear co-chairs,

The EU and its Member States remain committed to a global governance on AI rooted in a human-centric approach and grounded in respect for universal human rights, that supports innovation and sets up appropriate guardrails to harness the potential benefits of AI while mitigating the associated risks. We remain steadfast in our commitment to working constructively with all stakeholders to advance discussions on AI at the UN. We call for the Dialogue to establish a clear follow-up mechanism that tracks implementation of agreed principles, ensuring that human rights commitments made in Geneva translate into measurable accountability at national level.

Let us demonstrate our collective resolve to harness this transformative technology for the benefit of all.

Thank you.