Global Digital Governance

The European Union’s Artificial Intelligence Act aims to regulate emerging applications of AI in accordance with “EU values”. But for the most concerning of all such potential applications, the line between regulation and prohibition can be a tricky one to draw.

The need for cross-border data sharing throughout the Covid-19 pandemic has shown that the future of multilateral threat management will hinge on steady yet flexible open-data publishing norms and multilateral data-transfer agreements. In many ways, India typifies the perspectives and needs of emerging economies related to data sharing, data flows, and related commercial regulation.

Trade agreements have become an important battleground for tech companies to fight the regulatory pressure they are finally facing in the Global North. But allowing tech companies to capture digital trade talks to defang domestic regulation creates serious risks for privacy, fundamental rights, competition, social and economic justice, and sustainable development.

Recording of the event “Towards Secure, Sustainable, and Values-Based Supply Chains: A Transatlantic Conversation” on March 18, 2021

The EU and the US have to navigate bilateral differences and work with like-minded countries to formulate a response to China’s techno-authoritarianism. This effort should go beyond industrial policy towards shaping a positive and inclusive digital agenda.

A new alliance of programmers, wealthy tech companies, and NGOs is forming to tackle global problems such as poverty, hunger, and climate change. But making a difference in people’s real lives is not quite that simple.

The data revolution can support inclusive development and sustainable growth in the Global South as long as national policies and global rules protect vulnerable citizens and societies from abuse by technology companies and authoritarian governments.

The promise of measuring everything and everyone with the help of digital technologies has triggered the interest of the development community as well as governments across the Global South. But in countries like Kenya, the excessive collection or personal data creates risks of monetary and political exploitation, not to mention compounding existing discrimination, without improving the delivery of aid and public services.