Global AI governance: Taking action with civil society

An inclusive AI Action Summit

On 10th and 11th February, 2025, nearly 80 heads of state and many business leaders from the artificial intelligence (AI) sector will gather at the Paris AI Action Summit. On several occasions, the organisers have indicated their desire for this gathering to be “as inclusive as possible”. To this end, some civil society organisations will be invited to take part in the discussions – although whom, and the modalities and scope  of their participation are not yet known. A broad cross-section of actors must take part in the discussions, including organisations from the social justice, privacy and gender equality sectors.

The third wheel

AI has been profoundly transforming numerous areas of our lives, including access to online information and certain public services. It is thus crucial that the plurality of viewpoints of the players that make up society, with their cultural, social and ethical differences, and their diverse economic and geopolitical concerns, be represented. All too often, however, the mobilisation of civil society does not go beyond the consultation stage. Typically, its voice is only heard once the decisions have been taken, in a performative and tick-the-box manner.

The public consultation organised ahead of the summit demonstrated once again the value of involving civil society in global AI governance efforts. Defining the common good in the age of artificial intelligence requires the participation of all sections of society and the representation of the various interests at stake, in addition to those of private and state players. If this participation is to be effective, civil society representatives must be given a permanent seat at the table.

Equal legitimacy with other stakeholders

Civil society is a key stakeholder, able to challenge the goals and claims of players defending their own interests. In the case of AI governance, it brings specific evidence and expertise and an indispensable perspective, particularly at three levels.

First, it acts as a whistleblower. It raises awareness and calls attention to key issues that would otherwise be overlooked: respect for fundamental rights and freedoms, biases leading to discrimination against minorities or populations that are already vulnerable, the effects of “addictive” recommendation algorithms on young people’s mental health. Second, it helps to define methods for assessing these issues and devising solutions, in the public interest, and carries out in-depth investigations, building on lessons learned from other sectors. Last but not least, it provides expertise in human rights and ethics, as well as technical expertise.

Our call to action

In the field of AI governance, as in many other areas, limited funding, opaque selection processes and the risks of instrumentalisation undermine civil society’s ability to participate effectively. In the run-up to the Paris AI Action Summit, we request organisers to urgently implement three concrete measures to strengthen and facilitate the involvement of civil society in AI governance, during and especially after the summit:

• 1 – Support more open and transparent selection processes
  Clarifying and opening the selection processes for civil society’s participation in expert groups (in standardisation processes, within the European commission, etc.) and making them public is essential to ensure fair representation and restore trust. Opportunities for civil society participation should also be widened: we recommend opening up these participation spaces organised by public authorities or private players to a wider spectrum of organisations, beyond the most established ones.

• 2 – Impose a duty to respond to contributions
  There are often no mechanisms in place to ensure that civil society contributions are actually taken into account. We call on the summit participants to encourage the establishment of clear mechanisms for feedback and reporting on the integration of civil society inputs into AI-related policies and practices.

• 3 – Facilitate funding
  Many civil society organisations have extremely limited resources. Setting up dedicated funds or processes to encourage their funding, would enable them to contribute effectively and sustainably to AI governance efforts.

Simply consulting civil society in a superficial manner or highlighting its presence through media operations is no longer enough. It is now time to give civil society representatives a full and permanent seat at the table, so that they can become leading partners in the development of policies and guidelines, and in adjusting AI tools. The Paris AI Action Summit provides an opportunity to rebalance the powers between all the players who should have a say in the global governance of AI. Let’s not miss it.

You support these ideas and are interested in joining the movement?

Add your name to the list of signatories by filling this form.

List of signatories

• Jessica Galissaire, Studies Manager, Renaissance Numérique
• Rémy Gerbet, Executive Director, Wikimedia France
• Justine Atlan, Executive Director, Association e-Enfance/3018
• Gary Marcus, Professor Emeritus, New York University
• Sarah Andrew, Legal and Campaign Director, Avaaz 
• Anna Wohlfarth, Executive Director, interface
• Vanja Skoric, Program Director, European Center for Not-For-Profit Law
• Karine Caunes, Executive Director, Digihumanism – Centre for AI and Digital Humanism
• Matthias Spielkamp, Executive Director, AlgorithmWatch
• Gbenga Sesan, Executive Director, Paradigm Initiative
• Mariana Rielli, Director, Data Privacy Brasil
• Nicolas Chagny, President, Internet Society (ISOC) France
• Karine Gentelet, Scientific Director, in charge of Relationships with Civil Society, OBVIA
• Angela Mueller, Executive Director, AlgorithmWatch CH
• Jeni Tennison, Executive Director, Connected by Data
• Jean-François Lucas, General Manager, Renaissance Numérique
• Mélusine Blondel, Co-Director, La Mednum
• Jann Büscher, Co-Director, La Mednum
• David Evan Harris, Chancellor’s Public Scholar, University of California, Berkeley
• Valérie Fernandez, Professor & RD-ID Chair, Télécom Paris
• Damien Jacob, Guest Lecturer, ULiege
• Stephen Russel, Director General, ANEC (The European consumer voice in standardisation)
• Alice Stollmeyer, Founder & Executive Director, Defend Democracy
• Anna Obem, Managing Director, Panoptykon Foundation
• Tania Duarte, Founder, We and AI
• Rachel Coldicutt OBE, Executive Director, Careful Trouble
• Kim Thompson, Founder, United We Rise UK
• Kyle Taylor, Founder, Fair Vote UK
• Ryan Carrier, Executive Director, ForHumanity
• Ben Stewart, Founder/Managing Director, Caution Your Blast Ltd.
• Maxime Fournes, Co-Founder, Engineer and AI Researcher, PauseIA
• Irénée Régnauld, Associate Researcher, COSTECH (Connaissance, organisation et systèmes techniques) Lab, Université de Technologie de Compiègne
• Dr Nora Ni Loideain, Director, Information Law & Policy Centre, Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of London
• Yonah Welker, EU Commission projects evaluator, rapporteur, prev. tech envoy, ministry of AI advisor
• Martin Parker, Professor of organization studies, University of Bristol Business School
• Anthony Masure, Associate Professor, Haute école d’art et design de Genève (HEAD, HES-SO)
• Sara (Meg) Davis, Professor, Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies, University of Warwick
• Simon Buckingham Shum, Professor of Learning Informatics, University of Technology Sydney
• Mike Podmore, CEO, STOPAIDS
• Maria Farrell, Writer and Speaker
• Peter Flach, Professor of Artificial Intelligence, University of Bristol
• Luke Stark, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Information & Media Studies (FIMS), Western University, London, Ontario
• Yaniv Benhamou, Professor, Lawyer, IT Law, Digital Law Center, Université de Genève
• Nargisse Marine, Computer science engineer
• Roxana Rugina, Executive Director, Impact AI,
• Lynn Berry, Educational Designer, ANU
• Lionel Scheepmans, Lecturer in digital anthropology,  UC Louvain,
• Sorcha Hylan, Business Development Management, TU Dublin
• Antoinette Rouvroy, Research professor, Université de Namur/FNRS
• Jason Tucker, Researcher, Institute for Future Studies
• Edouard Noury
• Francesca Bosco, Chief Strategy Officer, CyberPeace Institute
• Kęstutis Kupšys, Vice-President, Lithuanian Consumers Alliance
• Norman Meyer, Retired Clerk of Court, CourtLeader
• Paloma De Araujo, Compliance Lawyer, Allianz Technology Germany
• Ismael Kherroubi Garcia, Founder & CEO, Kairoi
• Mona Skriver, Msc. Data Science student
• Gry Hasselbalch, Co-founder, DataEthics.eu
• Prof.Dr.Dagmar Monett, Professor of Computer Science, Berlin School of Economics and Law
• Máirín Murray, CEO, TechFoundHer
• Angelika Sharygina, Founder & Ai Researcher, Mindshld AI & Trinity College Dublin
• Todd Davies, PhD in Law, CandidateUniversity College London
• Francesca Palmiotto, Assitant Professor of Law, IE University
• Kate Arthur, Author
• Jeff De Cagna, Executive Advisor, Foresight LLC
• Roberto López-Dávila 
• Ashkan Alinaghian, AI Policy Analyst, University of Turin
• Andrej Kristan, Associate professor, University of Genoa
• Ben Kereopa-Yorke, Postgraduate Student, UNSW Canberra
• Truly Capell
• Antonette Shibani, Senior Lecturer, University of Technology Sydney
• Jerzy Stefanowski, Professor of Machine Learning and Data Mining, Poznan University of Technology
• Mathilde Forslund, Executive Director, Transform Health
• Luisa Franco Machado, Founder & Executive Director, Equilabs
• David Wood, London Futurists, Chair
• Fabienne Rafidiharinirina, Founder/Manager, Madagascar Initiatives for Digital Innovation
• Stéphane Nepton, Médiateur numérique Premières Nations, Indépendant
• Andréane Sabourin Laflamme, Philosophy/ethics professor, André-Laurendeau College
• Robert Whitfiled, Chair, One World Trust
• Alexei Lakhov, Executive Director, European Network of People who Use Drugs
• AHM Bazlur Rhaman, Chief Executive Officer, Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication
• Omid Zamani, Member, Iranian Sociology Association
• Indira Dewi Kantania, Research Associate
• Meg Davis, Professor Digital Health and Rights, University of Warwick
• Ruben Narzul, Independent Consultant EU digital policy
• Adrien Tallent, PhD Candidate in philosophy of AI, Sorbonne Université
• Irénée Régnauld, PhD Candidate, EHESS/INSA
• Sarah Rémy, Head of company, Effervescence
• Claire de Montesquiou, Treasurer, e-Enfance/3018
• Michael Strange, AI Politics Hub, Malmö University

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