By Marianna Richardson, Director of Communications for the G20 Interfaith Forum and head of its AI working group
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On July 7-10, the AI for Good Summit opened at the Paloexpo in Geneva, Switzerland. About 4,000 people attended the event. Many companies and countries showed their robotic skills and their policy feelings about AI. Different than the UN Global Dialogue on AI, this event was more of an opportunity for companies, academics, and countries to show off their latest and greatest AI applications, robots, and cars. Along with the show, there were also discussions about AI policies as well. The big push was on implementing Open Source AI internationally.
AI For Good For ALL
On the opening day of the event, the push was on “AI for Good for ALL.” Speakers from Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Russia, China, Zambia, and several UN agencies highlighted the growing geopolitical, developmental, and governance dimensions of global AI. Kazakhstan’s Zhaslan Madiyev described the country’s ambition to build a full AI stack and strengthen applied solutions through regional cooperation, including coordination with China and participation in the Shanghai AI Conference. Pakistan’s Shaza Fatima Khawaja emphasized that global governance must reflect the needs of the Global South, noting persistent imbalances in talent, data, and computational access. She called for operationalizing shared commitments and developing a global plan that moves AI governance from concept to implementation. Both Kazakhstan and Pakistan commended China’s support for open-source AI and its inclusive engagement across Asia.
Russia reiterated its position that AI should improve quality of life while respecting sovereignty and promoting fair, sustainable governance. The ITU stressed that standards are essential for interoperability and effective communication, while Michelle Gyles-McDonnough noted China’s strong commitment to “AI for All” and the profound responsibility that accompanies global AI development. UNITAR highlighted the need for training, norms, and digital upskilling to ensure fairness and equity. WIPO’s Wang Binying warned that fragmented national policies hinder global benefit, advocating harmonization and interoperability across borders through shared policy guides, dialogue, and practical action.
Dr. Carlos Correa of the South Centre emphasized that AI governance cannot be left to a handful of powerful stakeholders and must address divides created by external AI models. He pointed to AI’s potential in health, agriculture, and education, calling for concrete action on data access and youth programs. Amandeep Singh Gill stressed that capacity building must be a shared global effort, proposing a global AI fund to connect expertise and resources. Zambia’s H.E. Luambia outlined six measures for ensuring AI benefits developing countries, including capacity centers, access to data, responsible technology transfer, representation in governance, practical SDG-aligned initiatives, and financing. China’s Jia Guide reaffirmed China’s commitment to people-centered, open, and collaborative AI, calling for international standards and a stronger UN role to ensure AI becomes a force for inclusive and equitable development.
Advancing Balanced AI Global Governance
The discussion reflected on whether meaningful global AI governance was possible and what, in practice, will be governed, namely the economy, society, and the expanding digital systems that AI increasingly shaped. Participants noted that AI development remains concentrated in the United States and China, even as adoption has accelerated worldwide. Only a few hubs such as New York, Geneva, and emerging dialogues in the Maldives have hosted open international conversations about AI’s societal role. Across these settings, the shared concern centered on building balanced AI that distributes benefits equitably, strengthens ethics and public trust, and ensures inclusion—especially gender inclusion with women as users and creators of technology. Sustained investment, culturally relevant datasets, and digital services reaching all communities have been viewed as essential foundations.
Several countries emphasized the need for practical cooperation. The Russian Federation highlighted scientific collaboration involving hundreds of researchers and stressed the value of models that scientists across borders have been able to jointly develop. China underscored engineering approaches that aimed to make AI as accessible as “pen and paper”—simple, cheap, and universally usable. Many states called for open platforms, multilateral communication, and shared solutions that respected national roles while enabling collective progress. Underlying these appeals is a historical reminder. Societies have always borne responsibility for the tools they created. AI, they argued, has been fundamentally about knowledge rather than mere data, and governance needs to be inclusive, bottom-up, and ethically grounded, drawing on wisdom from past technological challenges.
The conversation also turned toward the future, focusing on youth engagement, sustainable deployment, and the strengthening of human agency rather than ceding it to machines. Participants noted a troubling lack of leadership capable of advancing global AI governance. Good leadership, they suggested, required deep understanding of the technology, commitment to cooperation, and the ability to empower people everywhere to shape AI’s trajectory. Only through such leadership and through shared responsibility will AI been able to evolve into a general-purpose tool that supports the societies people aspire to build.
Bridging AI Divides for Sustainable and Shared Benefits
Ambassador Kah led the discussion by emphasizing that sustainable and shared benefits were the core purpose of global AI cooperation. He conveyed appreciation to participants and expressed thanks to the Chinese government for its engagement, while noting that the world still had not shared AI’s real benefits equitably. Data access remained uneven across countries, and the global dialogue on AI for Good existed to correct this imbalance—not as charity, but as a pathway to full development. Participants were invited to reflect on what the digital divide looked like and to propose one concrete action that could help close it.
Kenya digital officers stressed the need to manage risks and confront the deep and disturbing consequences of rapid technological change. Despite hosting forty-two events on AI and digital health, The African region had not fully embraced AI because the necessary infrastructure was still missing. In 2023, Kenya formed an AI for Health initiative to build a platform that supported health systems, recognizing that principles alone did not reach clinics at the last mile. The challenge was to determine which technologies were fit for health and which were not.
Jin Li of China contributed further reflections, outlining three priorities: addressing issues before they became problems, coordinating across groups, and strengthening existing governance frameworks rather than replacing them. He raised critical questions about agentic AI, specifically what an autonomous system might do without human oversight and who would be accountable for its outcomes. These concerns underscored the need for governance grounded in responsibility and clarity.
Throughout the discussion, participants agreed that accountability, infrastructure, and shared development were central to closing global divides in AI access and benefits. They emphasized that governance required a clear understanding of human responsibility, especially as AI systems began to act with increasing autonomy. The conversation concluded with a recognition that sustainable progress depended on practical cooperation, inclusive frameworks, and deliberate choices about how AI would be used to support societies rather than deepen inequalities.
Robots of the Future
The robots were a large part of the event, rather than a primary focus on policy. The workshops focused on positive ways robots are being used for good. Robert the Robot is an expressive humanoid that can display realistic human faces. PrimeBOT Q1 is a personal AI companion. Assistive living for the older generation is another area where robots can be helpful, such as robotic future that moves for elderly needs and a robotic guide dog. The focus of the summit was on AI for human welfare with robotics used for education, accessibility, entertainment, and problem-solving.
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Marianna Richardson is the Director of Communications for the G20 Interfaith Forum. She is also an adjunct professor at the Marriott School of Business at Brigham Young University.