Editor’s choice
Editor’s choice
part of AI and SEI
In this paper, an international team of co-authors argues that artificial intelligence must be governed as a global commons, with coordinated regulation across social, planetary, and safety domains, to avoid deepening inequality, environmental harm, and systemic risk.
Two technicians walking past racks of equipment in a data center for cryptocurrency mining, cloud services and AI computing, Stutsman County, North Dakota.
Establishing global governance of artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming an increasingly pressing challenge to ensure the provision of global public goods and to mitigate harmful effects on societies and the planet. Current debates around AI take various forms, follow diverse narratives, and center variously on economic, social, environmental, or safety aspects. In this paper, the authors make three contributions.
First, they classify risks and challenges of AI across the social, planetary, and safety domains.
Second, they show that AI should be governed as a global commons, requiring coordinated interventions across all three domains, reflecting relevant inter-domain feedback loops, and root drivers, such as the pursuit of monopolistic AI power and the AI-infused media environment.
Third, they identify data, energy, and compute as relevant regulatory dimensions across social, planetary, and safety domains.
The authors conclude by emphasising the importance of limiting agentic AI, incentivising depolarising algorithms on social media, and setting AI dynamics within the context of global equity.
Other publication / This publication discusses why US policymakers should support the development and integration of compliance and voluntary carbon credit markets.
Perspective / In this perspective for Climate Home News, Kate Williamson and Magnus Benzie outline how the UK can build public support for climate adaptation policy agendas.
SEI report / This report provides guidance for Malmö to leverage sufficiency-oriented approaches to reduce consumption-based emissions and engage citizens in climate action.
