UN General Assembly and International Telecommunication Union deepen cooperation on AI governance
Summary
The President of the 81st UN General Assembly met with ITU Secretary-General Doreen Bogdan-Martin on 20 September and discussed closer cooperation between the General Assembly and ITU on AI governance. The discussion covered advanced AI, continued industry engagement and possible engagement with the AI for Good Global Commission. It is an institutional cooperation development rather than a new regulation, but it strengthens the link between the UN's political process and the ITU's technical and standards-oriented work on AI.
Commercial sectors most likely to be impacted
- Telecommunications
- IT Services, Software & Cloud Computing
- AI, Data Centres & Digital Infrastructure
- Banking, Capital Markets & Investment
- Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology
- Energy, Oil & Gas
- Utilities, Water & Waste Management
Business reality why a non-technical CEO should care
Greater coordination between the UN and ITU could eventually influence international technical standards and expectations for AI deployment. For companies operating globally, standards can matter commercially even before they become law because they can feed into procurement requirements, customer expectations, certification schemes and national regulation.
How to mitigate the potential problem
- Monitor ITU and UN AI-governance and standards work for emerging technical requirements.
- Ask key technology suppliers which international AI standards they currently support.
- Consider interoperability, auditability and security when selecting AI systems.
- Avoid assuming that today's voluntary standards will remain voluntary in every future market.