Japan's Hiroshima AI Process: a third way in global AI governance

Arisa Ema, Fumiko Kudo, Yoichi Iida and Toshiya Jitsuzumi

Chapter 14 in Handbook on the Global Governance of Artificial Intelligence, 2026, pp 232-246 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter examines Japan's Hiroshima AI Process (HAIP) as a distinctive “third way” in global artificial intelligence (AI) governance. Positioned between the European Union's legally binding AI Act and the United States’ market-driven, innovation-first model, the HAIP represents a soft-law framework that combines flexibility with openness. Anchored in guiding principles and a code of conduct, and operationalized through voluntary reporting and inclusive participation, it builds on Japan's domestic traditions of consensus-based, soft-law governance while drawing on global multistakeholder precedents. The chapter traces the HAIP's launch under Japan's 2023 G7 presidency, its subsequent institutionalization through the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and Friends Group, and its integration into Japan's 2025 AI Act. The analysis highlights how the HAIP balances input legitimacy (inclusive participation) and output legitimacy (effective reporting), enabling its transferability to non-hegemonic democratic states. Ultimately, the HAIP implies how stewardship and interoperability can provide durable governance architectures in an era of geopolitical fragmentation and technological acceleration.

Keywords: Hiroshima AI Process; HAIP; Multistakeholderism; Interoperability; Soft Law; Stewardship; Non-hegemonic States (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035338573
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