Page 4 - The Annual AI Governance Report 2025 Steering the Future of AI

Foreword by Doreen Bogdan-Martin,

ITU Secretary-General

As the global AI race continues to accelerate, humanity stands at a unique, transformative
moment.

Our collective challenge is not whether to govern artificial intelligence, but to understand and
ensure governance steers AI in the right direction.

This is at the heart of ITU’s mission to offer a neutral, global platform for artificial intelligence
where everyone has a voice and seat at the table.

Our second annual AI Governance Dialogue provided a timely opportunity for exactly this kind
of multi-stakeholder discussion among governments, the private sector, academia, civil society
organizations, the technical community, and United Nations colleagues – each of whom has a
key role to play.

We were especially privileged this year to have welcomed H.E. Alar Karis, President of Estonia,
one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world, and to have received a spiritual
message from His Holiness Pope Leo XIV.

We also heard from leading AI thinkers, including Yoshua Bengio and Daniela Rus, on how
to maximize AI’s benefits while minimizing its risks. I encourage you to read these and other
outcomes of our discussions throughout this report.

On behalf of ITU, I thank both co-chairs of the AI Governance Dialogue: His Excellency Engineer
Majed Al Mesmar, Director-General of the Telecommunications and Digital Government
Regulatory Authority of the United Arab Emirates, and Madame Anne Bouverot, France’s
Special Envoy for Artificial Intelligence.

The “Ten Pillars for AI Governance” (see Part 2, Chapter 4.2) captures the co-chairs’ vision for
AI while reflecting the commitment of diverse stakeholders to translate dialogue into action for
an AI that can deliver benefits for everyone, everywhere.

ITU is also grateful to Professor Robert Trager and his team at the University of Oxford for their
advice and support in curating this year’s Dialogue. Their white paper “Themes and Trends in
AI Governance” offers an excellent glimpse into the current state of play when it comes to AI
governance approaches around the world – you will find it as Part 1 of this report.

Finally, I extend my gratitude to the over 11,000 people from 169 countries who attended this
year’s AI for Good Global Summit and World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS+20)
High-Level Event. The value of such gatherings lies not only in the ideas shared on stage, but
in the connections formed and the collaborations strengthened.

In August 2025, the United Nations General Assembly approved the resolution “Terms of
reference and modalities for the establishment and functioning of the Independent International
Scientific Panel on Artificial Intelligence and the Global Dialogue on Artificial Intelligence
Governance”. I am also thrilled that the Resolution further specified that the Dialogue will initially

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