Governance - General

Updated August 30, 2024

 

State Governance and Policy Initiatives

Somewhat in contrast to the lack of detail in regulation, various non-binding AI governance initiatives (mostly with multilateral government participation) have been adopted or proposed, and set out principles for safe and responsible AI:

• Multinational

  • Global Partnership on AI (proposed at G7 summit in 1988 and launched in 2020)

  • Guidelines for secure AI system development (November 2023)

  • AI Safety Summits

    • The Bletchley Declaration (November 2023)

    • AI Seoul Summit (May 2024)

      • Seoul Ministerial Statement for advancing AI safety, innovation and inclusivity

      • Seoul Declaration for safe, innovative and inclusive AI

  • G7

    • Hiroshima Process

      • International Guiding Principles for Advanced AI Systems (October 2023)

      • International Code of Conduct for Advanced AI Systems (October 2023)

    • Ministerial Declaration on AI cooperation (March 2024)

  • United Nations

    • AI Advisory Body - Governing AI for Humanity (interim report December 2023)

    • General Assembly Resolution - Seizing the opportunities of safe, secure and trustworthy artificial intelligence systems for sustainable development (March 2024)

    • World Health Organization - Ethics and governance of artificial intelligence for health: Guidance on large multi-modal models (January 2024)

    • Politico reported in July 2024 that the UN intends to propose creation of a global AI Office.

• Regional

  • African Union

    • African Union Development Agency, AI White Paper and Roadmap Review (February 2024)

    • Continental Artificial Intelligence Strategy (June 2024)

  • Assocation of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Guide on AI Governance and Ethics (February 2024)

• National

  • France & China - Joint declaration on artifical intelligence and governance of global challenges (May 2024)

  • Japan - Liberal Democratic Party, AI White Paper 2024: New Strategies in Stage II - Toward the world's most AI-friendly country (May 2024)

  • Singapore - Model AI Governance Framework for Generative AI (May 2024)

  • UK - Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum AI and Digital Hub.

 

Use of AI by Government Bodies

Governments are also beginning to issue guidance on use of AI by government bodies, such as:

• EU

  • Artificial Intelligence in the European Commission (AI@EC) Communication (January 2024)

  • European Data Protection Supervisor, First EDPS Orientations for ensuring data protection compliance when using Generative AI systems (June 2024)

• Netherlands - principles for cooperation between Dutch Data Protection Authority and Dutch Authority for Digital Infrastructure in regulating AI (June 2024) 

• UK - Generative AI Framework for HMG (January 2024)

• US - see actions summarized on US Executive Order on AI page.

 

Private Governance Initiatives

There are also various private governance initiatives including:

• AI-focused risk management initiatives - see Harms page
• At the AI Seoul Summit in May 2024, 16 leading AI companies agreed the Frontier AI Safety Commitments.
• AI Assurance Club of the Global Digital Foundation - Multi Actor Governance Framework for AI information sharing proposed by the
• Center for Information Policy Leadership - Building Accountable AI Programs (February 2024)

• JAMS - Artificial Intelligence Disputes Clause, Rules and Protective Order (April 2024)

• OECD - Recommendation and Principles on Artificial Intelligence (2019, last updated May 2024)

• RAND Corporation - Historical Analogues That Can Inform AI Governance (August 2024).

 

Company Policies

Leading AI companies are also developing and evolving governance approachs for their AI activities and models, e.g.:

• OpenAI has:
  • released a Model Spec (May 2024) that "specifies [OpenAI's] approach to shaping desired model behavior and how we evaluate tradeoffs when conflicts arise"
  • announced in October 2023 that it would release a Risk-Informed Development Policy, and had a safe and responsible AI program involving three teams: Safety Systems,  Preparedness and Superalignment -- however these structures are apparently in flux because of OpenAI disbanding its team addressing long-term AI risks in May 2024

• Google has:

  • set out AI Principles

  • released a Frontier Safety Framework (May 2024) - "a set of protocols for proactively identifying future AI capabilities that could cause severe harm and putting in place mechanisms to detect and mitigate them".