On 8 July 2026, 180 policymakers, civil society advocates, industry representatives, and academics gathered at the Palais des Nations in Geneva for “Governing AI Together,” a full-day Multistakeholder Convening on AI Governance. The event was convened by a coalition spanning civil society, academia, and the UN, including the Global Network Initiative (GNI), MAP AI, the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) and its B-Tech Project, Business for Social Responsibility (BSR), the Centre for Communications Governance at NLU Delhi, the Global South Network for Trustworthy AI, PAIRS, and the Geneva Graduate Institute’s Global Governance Centre.
Attendees included 70 civil society representatives, 39 from SDOs and foundations, 24 academics, 19 government representatives, 17 from industry, and 11 from think tanks. Across six sessions, participants launched a new OHCHR B-Tech and BSR workstream embedding human rights due diligence into AI product design; held a fireside chat with UN Global Dialogue on AI Governance (UNGDAI) co-chairs Ambassador Egriselda Lopez of El Salvador and Ambassador Rein Tammsaar of Estonia, moderated by Rumman Chowdhury; debated how to operationalize red lines for AI under international human rights law; examined the interdependence between Big Tech and AI start-ups in Asia; previewed the forthcoming Global South AI Safety Report from the Global South Network for Trustworthy AI; and co-designed a Citizens’ Track to connect grassroots public dialogue to formal AI governance processes.
Despite differing entry points, the day’s discussions converged on a consistent diagnosis: multilateral AI governance has created platforms for exchange but has yet to deliver transparency about how stakeholder input shapes outcomes, or to translate participation into genuine agency for affected communities. Participants pointed to deep asymmetries — start-ups dependent on Big Tech for models and compute, Global Majority institutions dependent on Global North actors for infrastructure and safety expertise — and called for international human rights law and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights to remain the foundation for governance efforts, alongside sustained investment in language equity, judicial and institutional capacity, and local infrastructure for public participation.
The Convening’s central message: the intersessional period of the UNGDAI should be used to move from diagnosis and dialogue to concrete mechanisms and outcomes, building on the actors and evidence already in place. A practical human rights due diligence guide is planned for early 2027, and the Global South AI Safety Report’s first full edition is expected in time for the 2027 Swiss AI Summit.