The United Nations General Assembly has taken a decisive step in shaping the future of artificial intelligence (AI) governance. On 18 August 2025, the UN tabled a draft resolution to establish two major initiatives:
- The Independent International Scientific Panel on Artificial Intelligence
- The Global Dialogue on Artificial Intelligence Governance
Both aim to ensure that AI development and deployment are safe, inclusive, and beneficial to all humanity, while explicitly excluding military applications.
Why This Matters
AI is no longer just a technological issue; it’s a governance issue. From digital trade and healthcare to climate resilience and education, AI is influencing every sector. For Africa, where digital divides persist and infrastructure gaps remain, global AI governance presents both an opportunity and a risk:
- Opportunity: Access to expertise, funding, and capacity-building through UN-backed structures.
- Risk: If Africa is absent at the table, governance standards may evolve without considering our unique realities; linguistic diversity, uneven connectivity, and data sovereignty concerns.
The Independent International Scientific Panel on AI
The Panel will be composed of 40 experts serving in their personal capacity for three-year terms. Their mandate includes:
- Producing annual scientific assessments of AI’s opportunities, risks, and impacts.
- Ensuring reports are policy-relevant but non-prescriptive, leaving space for national adaptations.
- Maintaining balanced geographic representation, with explicit inclusion of experts from developing countries.
This structure is a direct recognition that AI knowledge must be global and inclusive, not dominated by a few powerful economies.
The Global Dialogue on AI Governance
The Dialogue will serve as a multi-stakeholder platform involving governments, civil society, academia, and the private sector. Its core focus areas include:
- Safe, secure, and trustworthy AI systems.
- Bridging AI divides and building capacity in developing countries.
- Respect for human rights, transparency, and accountability.
- Encouraging open-source software, open data, and open AI models.
The Dialogue will meet annually in Geneva and New York, starting with a high-level launch at the 80th UN General Assembly in 2025, and later aligning with major global events like the ITU AI for Good Summit (2026).
What This Means for Africa
For African policymakers, researchers, and innovators, this is not a spectator sport; it is a moment to claim space in global AI governance. Three key implications stand out:
- Policy Influence
Africa must actively nominate experts to the Panel to ensure African contexts shape global AI assessments. - Capacity Building
The Dialogue explicitly aims to address AI skill and infrastructure gaps. African governments and institutions should leverage this to secure funding, training, and technology partnerships. - Data Sovereignty & Local Priorities
With AI governance discussions tied to human rights, open data, and inclusivity, Africa has an opening to advance data sovereignty and protect against digital colonization.
The Call to Action
African voices must be loud and clear in both the Panel and the Dialogue. Governments should coordinate with regional bodies like the African Union, while civil society and academia push for transparency and local relevance. The private sector, too, has a role; both in innovation and in shaping responsible AI adoption.
The UN’s move signals that AI governance is entering a new multilateral era. Africa cannot afford to be passive, we must be co-authors of the rules that will govern the future.
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