During the AI Action Summit, held in Paris on February 10-11, 2025, a Global Coalition for Inclusive AI was officially launched. Co-initiated by Missions Publiques and the Stanford Deliberative Democracy Lab, this initiative aims to bridge the gap between deliberative processes on the ground and decision-making mechanisms in the field of artificial intelligence.
In the face of one of the greatest technological upheavals of our time, it is imperative that all those affected be included in discussions, if not directly and through citizen-elected representatives, then at least through deliberative processes that reflect their interests and perspectives.
After an international summit largely focused on the industry and marked by massive investments in AI development, it is clear that citizens need to play a role in ensuring an inclusive development of this technology.
The UN’s Global Digital Compact calls for a global dialogue on AI governance
In September 2024, world leaders gathered at the United Nations in New York to adopt the Global Digital Compact. This document specifically calls for “engaging in a global dialogue on AI governance” and “including users to take their perspectives into account.” The new coalition created in Paris aims to put this request into action.
More than just a discussion area for stakeholders, the coalition brings together a diverse range of committed actors, convinced of the need to promote inclusive and informed dialogues on international AI governance, with real influence over decisions.
Concretely, the coalition seeks to design and support deliberative processes at both local and global levels. For its first deliberation cycle (2025-2026), the coalition plans to combine two approaches: a series of decentralized deliberative dialogues and a global deliberative poll, aiming to engage 10,000 citizens from over 100 countries. The unique aspect: these participants will be demographically representative of their country’s population, reflecting age, gender and education, and will not be experts in the field, but ordinary citizens. They will come together to learn and discuss in a constructive setting.
Numerous public and private actors, starting with the UN, have already committed to this initiative. Several governments, including Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and France, have joined the coalition. Alongside them, more than 80 civil society organizations, private companies, and about ten academic partners have mobilized to support this effort.
A first activity of the coalition took place during the Paris Summit in the shape of organizing a Student Citizens’ Assembly. This deliberative process, co-organized by the École normale supérieure and Yale University, brought together nearly 70 participants. It enabled the development of concrete proposals at both local and global levels.
The new coalition seeks to involve citizens from around the world
Dozens of decentralized citizens’ assemblies organized thus far indicate that these processes produce high quality output. The project “We, the Internet”, initiated by Missions Publiques in 2017, allowed more than 5,500 citizens in 77 countries to deliberate on the future of the internet. The results demonstrated citizens’ ability to formulate informed and nuanced recommendations on complex issues. Thanks to rigorous and inclusive methodologies, these deliberations have generated rich perspectives that complement institutional expertise.
Building on the past experiences of its co-initiators, the Global Coalition for Inclusive AI now seeks to integrate the voices of ordinary citizens from around the world into AI governance at national, regional, and international levels. The coalition’s ambition is to include a diverse range of actors from the outset of deliberative processes, ensuring that the expectations emerging from these discussions will have a real impact.
Given the scale of the challenges, global AI governance requires humility, but deliberative processes are our best asset to address them. Artificial intelligence continues to surprise us, let’s give human intelligence, collective and democratic, the chance to do the same.
The Global Coalition for Inclusive AI will participate in the AI for Good Global Summit, which will take place in Geneva from July 8-11, 2025.
For more information visit the coalition’s website at global-ai-dialogue.org.
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