The prerequisite for AI global governance: Shaping it by all of humanity, for all of humanity

Abstract

Achieving global governance of artificial intelligence (AI) constitutes one of the most urgent challenges of the digital era, as AI technologies have rapidly diffused across sectors and jurisdictions worldwide. While technological progress is commonly framed as a driver of human flourishing, this paper argues that contemporary AI development and governance practices are exacerbating global inequalities, particularly affecting the Global South. The constructive and destructive capacities of AI have become concentrated in the hands of a limited number of actors, leaving billions of people excluded from meaningful participation in decisions that nonetheless shape their economic, social, environmental, and security realities. Structural constraints, including inadequate infrastructure and historical marginalisation, render many countries disproportionately vulnerable to harms such as exploitative labour practices, extractive resource dynamics, asymmetric security risks, environmental degradation, and deepening technological dependency. This paper advances the central claim that legitimate global AI governance cannot materialise without the meaningful inclusion of the Global South. Given AI’s cross-boundary, dual use, general purpose, and foundational nature, governance frameworks must be proactive and preventive rather than reactive. By foregrounding economic, social, cultural, and historical perspectives, the paper demonstrates that inclusive governance is both a normative imperative and a functional necessity. It calls for coordinated top-down and bottom-up approaches that embed equity by design across the AI value chain, ensuring the protection of human rights and aligning AI development with sustainable development for all. This article is also included in The Business & Management Collection which can be accessed at https://hstalks.com/business/.