The Global Dialogue on AI Governance is a United Nations intergovernmental forum on the governance of artificial intelligence, established by General Assembly resolution A/RES/79/325 under the Global Digital Compact. Its first session convenes in Geneva on July 6–7, 2026 (Source: un.org).
Structure and mandate
The Dialogue is co-chaired by Egriselda López of El Salvador and Rein Tammsaar of Estonia. The inaugural Geneva session's themes span capacity-building, open-source models, safety interoperability, and human rights (Source: un.org). A second session is scheduled for New York in May 2027 (Source: un.org).
Opening the first session on July 6, 2026, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that AI is developing faster than rules can keep up, saying "If AI is to be powerful, it must be governed" (Source: reuters.com).
On September 21, 2026, during the General Assembly's high-level week, a joint statement launched by Norway and Finland, "A Call for Control of Frontier AI Models," called on UN member states to "build on existing international mechanisms and explore creating an international institution, able to set standards, enable verification, and convene states when capability thresholds are crossed." The statement does not name the existing mechanisms (A Call for Control of Frontier AI Models (joint statement, September 2026)). Guterres welcomed it the same day (Source: aninews.in).
Relation to the Independent International Scientific Panel on AI
Resolution A/RES/79/325 also established the Independent International Scientific Panel on AI, whose Preliminary Report on AI opportunities, risks and impacts, released July 1, 2026, was intended to provide a common scientific starting point for the Geneva session; the panel's next annual report is scheduled to inform the May 2027 session.
Relationships
- related: Independent International Scientific Panel on AI, AI Governance (umbrella)
- depends-on: Independent International Scientific Panel on AI
- related: Volker Türk — welcomed the Dialogue's establishment in his September 2026 global update to the Human Rights Council (Global Update to the 63rd session of the Human Rights Council (Volker Türk, OHCHR, September 2026))
- related: A Call for Control of Frontier AI Models (2026), António Guterres — September 2026 call on UN member states to explore an international AI institution.