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The AI Dialogue is the world's first international platform convened by the UN General Assembly where all governments and stakeholders sit at the same table to have the meaningful conversation on AI the world needs.

It brings together all 193 Â鶹APP Member States alongside the private sector, civil society, academia and the technical community to exchange best practices and build common approaches to AI governance.

No country can address the opportunities and challenges of AI alone. International cooperation on AI governance is essential to ensure that AI development benefits everyone. The AI Dialogue exists to ensure that governance reflects the priorities of all nations, not just the most technologically advanced ¡ª and that the benefits of AI are shared by all.

The Dialogue was established by the Â鶹APP General Assembly through Resolution A/RES/79/325, adopted by consensus on 26 August 2025. It builds directly on the Global Digital Compact, adopted in September 2024 as part of the Pact for the Future, which called for an inclusive space within the UN for governments and stakeholders to deliberate on AI governance.

AI capabilities are advancing faster than governance frameworks can keep pace with. The gap between what AI can do and related policy-making is widening. At the same time, the impacts of AI are unevenly distributed. Countries with less AI capacity have had limited ability to shape international debates that will directly affect their populations. The Dialogue addresses both challenges: it offers independent science on fast-moving developments, and it brings every country to the same table to deliberate on the governance questions that no single country or region can resolve alone.

The first Global Dialogue on AI Governance takes place on 6 and 7 July 2026 at the Palexpo International Convention Centre in Geneva, back-to-back in the margins of the International Telecommunication Union AI for Good Global Summit and the World Summit on the Information Society Forum (WSIS).

The second Dialogue is scheduled for May 2027 in New York, alongside the Multistakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the Global Goals. The Dialogue is designed as a recurring mechanism, not a one-time event.

Resolution A/RES/79/325 identified seven thematic areas for the Dialogue: safe, secure, and trustworthy AI; AI capacity-building; the social, economic, ethical, cultural, linguistic, and technical implications of AI; interoperability of governance approaches; protection and promotion of human rights; transparency, accountability, and human oversight; and open-source software, open data, and open AI models.

The current consultation asks governments, organizations, and individuals to identify their priorities across these themes and to flag any cross-cutting or emerging issues not yet captured. You can contribute your perspective at by 30 April 2026.

The Dialogue is not a negotiating forum. Each Dialogue concludes with a co-chair summary ¡ª a deliberate design that allows every country to participate on equal footing, without the constraints that formal negotiation would impose. The goal is cumulative: to build shared understanding across governments and stakeholders that can inform concrete governance decisions over time. The first Dialogue in July 2026 is the beginning of that process, not the end point.

The first Global Dialogue on AI Governance is co-chaired by H.E. Ms. Egriselda L¨®pez of El Salvador and H.E. Mr. Rein Tammsaar of Estonia, appointed by the President of the General Assembly.

The Dialogue is facilitated by its co-chairs, supported by a joint secretariat comprising the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Â鶹APP Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the UN Office for Digital and Emerging Technologies (ODET), and the Executive Office of the Secretary-General (EOSG. It is coordinated by ITU and UNESCO for the first Dialogue in July 2026.

The clusters do not reopen or renegotiate the seven areas agreed in resolution A/RES/79/325. They are a practical way to organize discussions in a more coherent and manageable manner, based on feedback from Member States.

Options are being explored to involve Member States and other actors in supporting the facilitation, including during the preparatory phase, in a manner that ensures balance, inclusivity and transparency.

The structure follows a sequential approach, as much as possible,, while accommodating the different mandated components of the Dialogue. This is intended to avoid unnecessary barriers to participation, particularly for smaller delegations.

Once the overall structure is agreed, each cluster will be developed in substance, covering scope, subtopics, and guiding questions, including through targeted exchanges with relevant stakeholders.

The Dialogue is one of the key mechanisms created to implement the Global Digital Compact, which committed UN Member States to inclusive, cooperative approaches to AI governance. It is the primary forum through which Member States will track and advance implementation of the Compact's AI commitments. Deliberations from the Dialogue will feed into the Compact's follow-up processes, including the high-level review scheduled for 2027.

The Dialogue and the Scientific Panel are distinct but mutually reinforcing. The Panel produces independent, evidence-based assessments of AI's opportunities, risks, and impacts, and presents its annual report at the Dialogue. Governments and stakeholders can then engage with that evidence to inform their deliberations. The Panel provides the science; the Dialogue provides the space to act on it.

The AI Dialogue enters an already active governance landscape.It builds on a wide range of existing initiatives, including those led by UN entities, such as the work of the ITU, UNESCO, UNDP, and other parts of the UN system, as well as processes driven by other international organizations and Member States, including the G7, G20, OECD, regional bodies, and related multilateral and multi?stakeholder efforts.

The goal is to connect those efforts and build common ground on interoperability and shared approaches. The UNGA Resolution and the Secretary General have been explicit: the AI Dialogue is designed to complement existing mechanisms and efforts, not compete with them.

This builds directly on two foundational UN efforts:

1. The High-level Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence, whose 2024 final report Governing AI for Humanity explicitly recommended a new inclusive policy dialogue at the UN - and the Global Digital Compact, which acted on that recommendation.
2. Key partners bring established frameworks, tools, and institutional reach, such as:

• ITU anchors the technical dimension through its international AI standards work and through the AI for Good Global Summit and network, the global platform that brings together innovators, policymakers, and international organizations to advance AI in support of the Sustainable Development Goals.
• UNESCO's 2021 Recommendation on the Ethics of AI, adopted by all 195 Member States, established the first global ethical framework for AI, supported by practical implementation mechanisms including the Global AI Ethics and Governance Observatory.
• Furthermore, other partners and initiatives are also contributing to shaping AI policy frameworks.

No. The Dialogue provides an inclusive space on AI governance under the authority of the General Assembly.

Rather than duplicating existing initiatives, it complements them. While other forums operate at national, regional or thematic levels, the Dialogue provides a space to bring Member States and stakeholders together, helping to connect approaches and strengthen coherence in AI governance.

All UN Member States are invited to participate. The Dialogue is also open to relevant stakeholders, including the private sector, the technical community, civil society organizations, and academic institutions.

Governments participate through their UN Missions. Stakeholders, including civil society, the private sector, academia, and the technical community, can engage through the written submission process and, where accreditation applies, at the Dialogue itself. Further details will be made available on this website.

Inclusion means having a genuine opportunity to contribute to the discussions and to see those contributions reflected in outcomes. The consultation process, the multistakeholder format, and the Scientific Panel's mandate to produce assessments accessible to all countries are all part of how the Dialogue is structured to deliver on that.

AI's benefits are not yet reaching everyone, and countries with less developed AI infrastructure often have less influence over how AI is governed globally, even when the impacts on their populations are significant. The Dialogue levels the information and participation playing field. Every country has a seat. The Scientific Panel's assessments are produced to inform all Member States, not just those with large AI sectors.

The Dialogue also takes seriously AI's potential to accelerate progress on the Global Goals ¡ª from closing health and education gaps to driving climate action. Harnessing that potential requires governance frameworks built with all countries in mind. Inclusion here means a meaningful opportunity to contribute to and benefit from AI governance, not just a place in the room.

The Dialogue is designed to be inclusive in practice, not just in principle. Support for participation, particularly for developing country delegations, is being actively pursued through existing UN system mechanisms and voluntary contributions. Details on available support will be published on this website as they are confirmed.

Ahead of each Dialogue, a written submission portal is opened to allow governments, organizations, and individuals to contribute their perspectives on AI governance. These submissions inform the agenda and deliberations. Regional consultations are also held to ensure geographically diverse input reaches the Dialogue. The current consultation is open until 30 April 2026 at .

That question is central to the current stakeholder consultation, and the answer should come from the full range of governments, organizations, and stakeholders the Dialogue is designed to serve. The consultation asks directly what outcomes would make the first Dialogue a success ¡ª and those responses will help shape the agenda and the co-chairs' approach.

What the Dialogue's mandate makes clear is that July 2026 is a first step. The goal is to build a credible foundation for deeper engagement in 2027 and beyond, not to resolve every contested question in one session. Contribute your view at by 30 April 2026.

All updates, consultation materials, and Dialogue documents are published on this website. Click to subscribe for updates.