The Annual AI Governance Report 2025: Steering the Future of AI 2025 Report
Foreword by Doreen Bogdan-Martin, ITU Secretary-General
Table of contents
Part I – White Paper: Themes and Trends in AI Governance
Executive Summary
Introduction
Theme 1: The Year of AI Agents
     1.1 Rapid Capability Improvements
     1.2 Agent Governance Frameworks
     1.3 Infrastructure for Agent Deployment
Theme 2: AI and Socioeconomic Impact
     2.1 Labor Market Transformation
     2.2 Steps towards addressing the AI Divide
     2.3 Economic Growth and Productivity Gains
Theme 3: International AI Governance Coordination
     3.1 Global AI Summits
     3.2 Track 2 Diplomacy Initiatives
     3.3 Regional AI Partnerships
Theme 4: AI Standards and Best Practices
     4.1 Landscape of AI Standard Setting Initiatives
     4.2 Technical Standards Development
     4.3 Ethical AI Frameworks
     4.4 Safety Standards and Red-Teaming
     4.5 Certification and Accreditation Programs
Theme 5: AI Infrastructure and Compute
     5.1 Global Compute Distribution
     5.2 Energy and Sustainability
     5.3 Hardware Innovation and Supply Chains
     5.4 Cloud Infrastructure and Access
Theme 6: AI Safety and Risk Management
     6.1 Risks of AI and System Safety Assessment
     6.2 Approaches to Mitigating AI Risks
     6.3 Corporate Risk Mitigation Practices and its Limitations
     6.4 Open Source and Open Weight AI: Trajectories, Debates, and Global Practices
     6.5 AGI, Existential Risk, and Social Resilience
     6.6 Verification as a path to reduce risks from AI
Annex - Examples of multilateral initiatives & national initiatives
Part II – Spotlight on AI Governance Dialogue 2025: Highlights and Insights
Introduction
Chapter 1: Global Context
     1.1 Opportunities
     1.2 Risks
     1.3 Geopolitics of AI
     1.4 Power Concentration
     1.5 Complexity
     1.6 Trust
     1.7 Pacing Problems
     1.8 Inequality and Emerging Divides
Chapter 2: Ten Pillars for AI Governance
     2.1 From Principles to Practice
     2.2 A Multistakeholder Imperative
     2.3 Transparency as a Cornerstone of Trust
     2.4 Bridging Inclusion
     2.5 Capacity for All, Not Just a Few
     2.6 Environmental Sustainability and AI Infrastructure
     2.7 Sectoral Focus and Broad Collaboration
     2.8 Standards and Safety Tools
     2.9 Governance of Compute and Models
     2.10 Policy Interoperability and Agile Governance
Chapter 3: Regional Perspectives and Case Studies
     3.1 European Union
     3.2 Africa
     3.3 Asia
     3.4 The Americas
     3.5 Estonia
     3.6 Switzerland
     3.7 Singapore
     3.8 Saudi Arabia
Chapter 4: A vision for 2026
     4.1 The UN’s “Global Dialogue on Artificial Intelligence Governance”
     4.2 Co-chairs’ Ten Pillars for AI Governance
Annexes
     1 AI Governance Dialogue address: Steering the future of AI – Doreen Bogdan‑Martin
     2 Presidential address, H.E. Mr. Alar Karis, President, Republic of Estonia
     3 Message on behalf of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV
     4 Informal Polling Results among Luncheon Participants
     5 UN AI Activities
     6 Acknowledgments
     7 See you in 2026