e often look to our governments for tech governance frameworks but in a world in disarray it is up to each of us and our ecosystems to develop tech governance knowledge and resilience.
We live in a world where the two most powerful nation states—the U.S. and China—have their own—and very different—approaches to tech innovation. Theirs is geoeconomic and geopolitical competition in its rawest and most intense form. The U.S. government has embraced an unfettered, largely unregulated philosophy that incentivizes U.S. tech companies to run wild in a dog–eat–dog competition with one another, while the government largely ignores its critical role as a tech guardian of its populace. China is building a national and international tech powerhouse on foundations of intense state investment across multiple exponential technologies, built upon an extensive domestic surveillance system, and aimed at conquering the global marketplace.
The rest of the world presents a hodgepodge of governance approaches, with the EU the most regulated and India and the so–called Global South attempting to develop varying degrees of AI sovereignty and independence. There is no global tech governance coordination despite the valiant and important efforts underway at organizations like the UN, EU, OECD and others. Sadly, I suspect that a serious attempt to globally address AI tech governance will only happen when there is a major materially negative AI event (or series of events) that wakes the world up to the dire need for global AI governance collaboration.
So, what can we do today, in the absence of a global consensus initiative, to build the resilience and preparedness for effective tech governance?
- Become more informed in an area of tech governance that resonates with you. Take courses, engage in research, follow the news, use the tools, and understand their implications.
- Contribute to or join an NGO that is doing work aligned with your concerns about tech governance, whether it has to do with disinformation, child protection, social media, etc.
- Unsubscribe from platforms you are not aligned with: I left Facebook in 2016 on the heels of the Cambridge Analytica scandal; I left the increasingly toxic X last year after being a Twitter subscriber since 2012.
- Build your own resilient tech governance ecosystems for yourself, family members, coworkers and colleagues, your community entities (religious, social, educational), etc.
- Follow important voices in the tech safety dialogue like the Future of Life Institute, the Center for Humane Technology, All Tech is Human, the Stanford Center for Human Centered AI, UNESCO, the African Observatory in Responsible AI, and many more.
- Practice good tech governance at your own workplace: Find out what is being done for AI/GenAI/Agentic AI usage policy, for combating disinformation and misinformation, for ensuring AI–based bias and discrimination are neutralized, and for educating and reskilling your workforce as AI tools take over portions (small or large) of people’s work.
- Pressure your political leaders for small– or medium–sized wins: For example, the U.S. state of New York has adopted what is recognized to be one of the better government–sponsored AI regulatory frameworks which, in the absence of a federal one, is better than nothing.
Bottom line: It is up to each of us to not give up, despair or cower in the corner, but instead build up our own tech governance resilience and mental muscle and then extend them across our various ecosystems.
a global affairs media network
The will to tech governance is there. Now to find the way
Photo by Getty Images via Unsplash+.
March 31, 2026
Global AI governance remains fragmented, making civic engagement and local tech governance resilience essential, writes Andrea Bonime–Blanc.
W
e often look to our governments for tech governance frameworks but in a world in disarray it is up to each of us and our ecosystems to develop tech governance knowledge and resilience.
We live in a world where the two most powerful nation states—the U.S. and China—have their own—and very different—approaches to tech innovation. Theirs is geoeconomic and geopolitical competition in its rawest and most intense form. The U.S. government has embraced an unfettered, largely unregulated philosophy that incentivizes U.S. tech companies to run wild in a dog–eat–dog competition with one another, while the government largely ignores its critical role as a tech guardian of its populace. China is building a national and international tech powerhouse on foundations of intense state investment across multiple exponential technologies, built upon an extensive domestic surveillance system, and aimed at conquering the global marketplace.
The rest of the world presents a hodgepodge of governance approaches, with the EU the most regulated and India and the so–called Global South attempting to develop varying degrees of AI sovereignty and independence. There is no global tech governance coordination despite the valiant and important efforts underway at organizations like the UN, EU, OECD and others. Sadly, I suspect that a serious attempt to globally address AI tech governance will only happen when there is a major materially negative AI event (or series of events) that wakes the world up to the dire need for global AI governance collaboration.
So, what can we do today, in the absence of a global consensus initiative, to build the resilience and preparedness for effective tech governance?
- Become more informed in an area of tech governance that resonates with you. Take courses, engage in research, follow the news, use the tools, and understand their implications.
- Contribute to or join an NGO that is doing work aligned with your concerns about tech governance, whether it has to do with disinformation, child protection, social media, etc.
- Unsubscribe from platforms you are not aligned with: I left Facebook in 2016 on the heels of the Cambridge Analytica scandal; I left the increasingly toxic X last year after being a Twitter subscriber since 2012.
- Build your own resilient tech governance ecosystems for yourself, family members, coworkers and colleagues, your community entities (religious, social, educational), etc.
- Follow important voices in the tech safety dialogue like the Future of Life Institute, the Center for Humane Technology, All Tech is Human, the Stanford Center for Human Centered AI, UNESCO, the African Observatory in Responsible AI, and many more.
- Practice good tech governance at your own workplace: Find out what is being done for AI/GenAI/Agentic AI usage policy, for combating disinformation and misinformation, for ensuring AI–based bias and discrimination are neutralized, and for educating and reskilling your workforce as AI tools take over portions (small or large) of people’s work.
- Pressure your political leaders for small– or medium–sized wins: For example, the U.S. state of New York has adopted what is recognized to be one of the better government–sponsored AI regulatory frameworks which, in the absence of a federal one, is better than nothing.
Bottom line: It is up to each of us to not give up, despair or cower in the corner, but instead build up our own tech governance resilience and mental muscle and then extend them across our various ecosystems.
