Future trends in global AI governance

Daniel S. Schiff

Chapter 21 in Handbook on the Global Governance of Artificial Intelligence, 2026, pp 361-382 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter examines possible directions for future artificial intelligence (AI) governance based on insights from early 21st-century AI policy and discourse. It lays out a typology of key dimensions that serve as meaningful fault lines: decisions related to centralization versus decentralization, robust versus minimalistic monitoring and enforcement, adaptive versus enduring regulation, private leadership versus shared control, and a broad versus targeted scope of concern around AI's social and ethical impacts. After examining these characteristics and associated trade-offs, it reviews four analogous models in technology governance that bundle these dimensions in various ways: the aviation, climate change, organic food, and open-source software policy regimes. These models serve as a useful starting point for the chapter's examination of how AI governance is developing—including which paths appear more settled—and what key contingencies and opportunities remain. It concludes that persistent hard work will be necessary to shape a better future for all.

Keywords: AI Governance; Forecasting; Policy Design; Technology Policy; AI Ethics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035338573
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