Answer

• Artificial Intelligence (AI)à Transforming economies and societies but also poses cross-border risks that no single nation can regulate effectively.
• Recognizing this, the UN General Assembly established the Independent International Scientific Panel on AI under the 2024 Global Digital Compact to provide scientific assessments for global AI governance.

Need for Global Regulation of AI

• Accountability: Harmonised rules are needed to assign responsibility for cross-border AI harms.
• Regulatory Consistency: Common standards can reduce fragmented compliance requirements across jurisdictions.
• Prevent Regulatory Arbitrage: Uniform norms discourage AI developers from shifting to lenient regulatory regimes.
• Address Security Risks: International oversight is essential to prevent AI-enabled biological, chemical, and cyber threats.

Challenges

• Technological Monopoly: Overly restrictive global norms may concentrate frontier AI development in a few countries.
• National Sovereignty: Divergent data localisation and digital sovereignty policies hinder coordinated governance.
• Geopolitical Differences: Major powers differ on the nature and enforceability of global AI rules.
• Liability Gap: Assigning accountability for autonomous AI systems remains legally and technically complex.

Way Forward

• Develop interoperable reporting standards based on global best practices such as the OECD Hiroshima AI Process.
• Adopt a tiered regulatory framework, with stricter obligations for frontier AI models and lighter norms for low-risk applications.
• Create a Trusted AI Commons to share datasets, testing tools, and benchmarks with developing countries.
• Harmonise AI risk classifications across major regulatory frameworks to reduce compliance fragmentation.
• Strengthen India's principle-based AI governance through international cooperation and active participation in UN-led initiatives.

Conclusion:

A balanced global AI governance framework must promote innovation, inclusiveness, accountability, and safety, ensuring that AI remains a force for sustainable and equitable development rather than geopolitical competition.