Part 4 – AI Regulation Globally

This is Part 4 of 'Regulation of AI'

There have been various initiatives for countries around the world to cooperate on AI regulation, including knowledge sharing and securing commitments from tech providers.

International agreements

Currently, the main legally-binding international treaty is the Council of Europe's convention on AI. This treaty, opened for signature on 5 September 2024 and was initially signed by the UK, US, EU and others. The signatory list has since expanded, and the EU ratified the Convention on 15 May 2026. It creates a common framework for AI systems with three over-arching objectives:

• protecting human rights, including ensuring people’s data is used appropriately, their privacy is respected and AI does not discriminate against them
• protecting democracy by ensuring countries take steps to prevent public institutions and processes being undermined
• protecting the rule of law, by putting the onus on signatory countries to regulate AI-specific risks, protect its citizens from potential harms and ensure it is used safely

On 30 October 2023 the G7 published its international guiding principles on AI, in addition to a voluntary code of conduct for AI developers. The G7 principles are a non-exhaustive list of guiding principles aimed at promoting safe, secure and trustworthy AI and are intended to build on the OECD's AI Principles, adopted back in May 2019.

Global summits

There have been four global AI summits. In November 2023, the UK Government hosted the first – titled the AI Safety Summit. The summit brought together representatives from governments, AI companies, research experts and civil society groups from across the globe, with the stated aims of considering the risk of AI and discussing how they can be mitigated through internationally co-ordinated action. One output from the UK's AI Safety Summit was the Bletchley Declaration focused on international collaboration on identifying AI safety risks and creating risk-based policies to address such risks. Another output was an agreement between senior government representatives from leading AI nations and major AI developers and organisations (including Meta, Google DeepMind and OpenAI) to a plan for safety testing of frontier AI models.

The second global AI summit was held in Seoul in May 2024. The institutes of 10 countries and the EU signed the Seoul Declaration with commitments to cooperate more between themselves and via organisations such as the UN, G7, G20 and OECD, while sixteen AI firms made voluntary safety commitments.

In February 2025, the AI Action Summit was held in Paris. Over 1000 participants from over 100 countries attended the summit which focused on the key themes of inclusive and environmentally-sustainable AI. The Statement on Inclusive and Sustainable Artificial Intelligence for People and the Planet was signed by 60 countries but not the US or UK.

The fourth summit, the India AI Impact Summit, ran in February 2026 and focused on responsible, resilient, inclusive AI adoption. The India AI Impact Summit Declaration was endorsed by 92 countries and international organisations, and that outputs included the New Delhi Frontier AI Impact Commitments, the Global AI Impact Commons, the Equitable AI Transition Playbook, AI governance guidance notes and other voluntary principles.

Switzerland has announced that it will host a global AI summit in Geneva in 2027.

The UN has established a Global Dialogue on AI Governance, with the first session scheduled for 6–7 July 2026 in Geneva. A second session will follow in New York in May 2027. The AI Dialogue is the UN's platform where all governments and stakeholders can convene to discuss international cooperation, share best practices and lessons learned, and facilitate open, transparent and inclusive discussions on AI governance.

Standards

AI-related standards have been published by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). In its response to the white paper, the UK government mentions specifically the importance of engaging with global standards development organisations such as the ISO and IEC. The most prominent AI ISO/IEC standards are:

1. ISO/IEC TR 24028:2020 that analyses the factors that can impact the trustworthiness of systems providing or using AI
2. ISO/IEC TR 24368:2022 on the ethical and societal concerns surrounding AI
3. ISO/IEC 23894:2023 which offers strategic guidance to organisations across all sectors for managing risks connected to the development and use of AI. It also provides guidance on how organisations can integrate risk management into their AI-driven activities and business functions
4. ISO/IEC 42001:2023 which specifies requirements for establishing, implementing, maintaining, and continually improving AI management systems within organisations
5. ISO/IEC 12792: 2025 specifies a taxonomy of information elements to assist AI stakeholders with identifying and addressing the needs for transparency of AI systems
6. ISO/IEC 42005: 2025 gives guidance for organisations conducting AI system impact assessments.

In addition, relevant standards have also been published by: (i) the British Standards Institution including PD CEN/CLC TR 18145:2025 which provides guidance on sustainable AI technologies; and (ii) the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers including IEEE 3119-2025 on Procurement of AI and Automated Decision Systems.