Immediately following the inaugural UN Global Dialogue on AI Governance (UNGDAI), the Global Network Initiative (GNI) and the Centre for Communication Governance at National Law University Delhi (CCG) convened a diverse group of stakeholders at the Palais des Nations in Geneva under the Multistakeholder Approaches to Participation in AI Governance (MAP-AI) initiative. The session built on submissions the MAP-AI community made to UNGDAI during and after the India AI Impact Summit in February 2026, bringing together participants from civil society, academia, industry, and multilateral institutions with strong Global Majority representation.
Members heard from the co-chairs of the UNGDAI, Ambassador Egriselda Lopez of El Salvador and Ambassador Rein Tammsaar of Estonia, in a fireside chat moderated by Rumman Choudhary of Humane Intelligence PBC. The co-chairs reflected on the Dialogue’s success in convening 2,200 participants from over 100 countries, and on the work ahead to translate the Dialogue’s momentum into institutional follow-through, deeper regional inclusion, and capacity building ahead of the 2027 UNGDAI in New York and the 2027 Swiss AI Summit in Geneva.
Scene-setting remarks from the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs and UNESCO underscored a shared conviction: multistakeholder participation cannot be an afterthought and must be built in from the outset, with governance and human rights reinforcing rather than competing with innovation.
Participants then divided into four breakout groups mirroring the UNGDAI’s thematic clusters, AI Opportunities and Implications, Bridging AI Divides, Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy AI, and Respecting, Protecting, and Promoting Human Rights, held under the Chatham House Rule. Discussions brought forth recurring priorities: greater transparency in how the Dialogue’s agenda and inputs are shaped, what genuine inclusion of affected and Global Majority communities requires beyond symbolic participation, the financing gap facing the Global South, language equity and environmental impacts across the AI lifecycle, and concrete, rights-centred commitments, from AI redlines to a principle of controllability, that can be advanced through the intersessional period. The session closed with a plenary discussion and concluding remarks from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
The convening was coordinated with and included other sessions organized by the OHCHR B-Tech Project, BSR, the Global South Network for Trustworthy AI, and the Citizens’ Track on AI Governance as part of a broader Multistakeholder Day on AI Governance. In addition to this event report, GNI and CCG have published a broader set of reflections and recommendations drawing from the days sessions, the inaugural UNGDAI, and the MAP-AI’s earlier efforts, with an eye toward future AI governance convenings.
Through MAP-AI, GNI and CCG will continue to facilitate multistakeholder engagement across these processes, elevating underrepresented voices and ensuring that international AI governance remains grounded in the international human rights framework. Please visit our website to track our ongoing work ahead of the 2027 UN Global Dialogue and the Switzerland-hosted 2027 AI Summit in Geneva.