Responsible AI — The need for a G20 coordinating committee for the governance of AI

This policy brief proposes a “Group of Twenty (G20) coordinating committee for the governance of artificial intelligence” (CCGAI) to plan and coordinate on a multilateral level the mitigation of AI risks. The G20 is the appropriate regime complex for such a metagovernance mechanism, given the involvement of the largest economies and their highest political representatives. Other regime complexes and international organizations, which also focus on AI governance, tend to either lack such political power or exclude major rivalry countries. However, such inclusive centrality is necessary to counter the fragmentation of the existing cyber regime complex and effectively coordinate the mitigation of AI risks on a global level. Therefore, the G20 CCGAI is proposed to complement and strengthen polycentric governance as well as AI governance networks. CCGAI’s metagovernance function is presented as a task intended to institutionalize linkages between the CCGAI and relevant actors with the G20 complex and the broader AI and cyber regime complex. While the policy brief outlines the landscape of AI risks and proposes an agenda with AI governance challenges, the focus is on the functional and organizational features of the CCGAI and how such chartered committee can foster international collaboration. Without such global coordination, AI governance risks becoming primarily an instrument of strategic competition and rivalry. A shorter version of this policy brief was included in the Think 20 (T20) communique (p.28) as a recommendation to the G20 in 2020. The T20 is a G20 engagement group that incubates and proposes policy ideas. The long version has been published with Springer Nature’s journal “AI and Ethics”