Sara Speicher is the deputy general secretary of the World Association for Christian Communication and an advisor to the World Council of Churches (WCC) Faith and Science Working Group. She also works for the WCC with a focus on strategic advocacy communication in the field of digital justice and artificial intelligence. She reflects on the first Global Dialogue on AI Governance held in Geneva 6-7 July.
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Photo:
Gregoire de Fombelle/WCC
There seem to be many conferences and summits on artificial intelligence. What makes the Global Dialogue on AI Governance different?
Speicher:The Global Dialogue is the first time all countries have a seat at the table to address the opportunities and risks of artificial intelligence, and areas of international cooperation. It was established through the Global Digital Compact adopted at the United Nations 2024 Summit of the Future. The compact sets out a vision for an open, safe, and inclusive digital future, and the dialogue is a space within the UN for governments and stakeholders to discuss governance issues together. Its place and relationship with other international platforms is still to be developed. For example, during the same week in Geneva, and generally in the same location, was the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS Forum) which for over 20 years has worked towards a people-centred, inclusive, and development-oriented information society – and the increasingly popular AI for Good Global Summit, which is like the world expo of the mostly good side of AI technology. And later this year, the Internet Governance Forum will be held in Nairobi. How all these UN-related meetings link, and which will have the most impact, remains to be seen.
What were some of the highlights?
Speicher: The central document is the preliminary report of the International Scientific Panel on Artificial Intelligence. This is the first comprehensive, evidence-based, independent document that assesses AI as a technology as well as its impact on society. It is a consensus document by its 40-member panel, and, as co-chair Maria Ressa stated, “This is the floor of our concern, not the ceiling. And that is alarming enough.” The report points to major gains in science, health, and education – alongside serious risks to information integrity, growing vulnerability, and increased abuse, especially against women, girls, journalists, and marginalized populations.
António Guterres, United Nations secretary-general, also had a very strong opening address which is well-worth a read and a reflection by all of us. Notable particularly for the WCC is how strong he came out against “killer robots” – autonomous weapon systems. WCC is very involved in the Campaign Against Killer Robots.
With the speed of AI, aren’t these governance processes too slow to be effective?
Speicher: There is definitely the sense that the AI genie has shot out of the bottle and won’t go back in, and governments want both the potential economic benefit of AI (and certainly don’t want to be left behind) but also are aware of the real and potential harms. There is also a heightened concern that the technology is being developed in a handful of extraordinarily powerful companies, with the vast majority in the US. As Guterres stated, “When power imbalances are hard-wired into technology, inequality becomes part of the code.”
But there is hope, and that mainly comes from all of us – what we tell our political leaders and how we make our economic choices. We’re now seeing local pushback to new data centres in the US for instance, and it’s forcing political leaders at different levels to set planning limits. There is a strong call by many different sectors to halt development of ever more powerful AI and focus on ensuring everyone benefits from current tools and that safeguards are in place. In our symposium on digital rights and AI accountability in April, we identified three questions we should be asking in every space: Who benefits? Who controls? Who knows?
The bottom line is that the path we take is too important to be left only to powerful tech companies or individual governments. We all have to be involved – from the choices we make daily to the voices we highlight at international forums. All these forums will keep meeting. Whether they deliver justice depends on what we do between them.
AI accountability: Before or after the fact? (WCC blog, 15 July 2026)
WCC shares insights at Faith-AI Covenant Roundtable (WCC news release, 26 June 2026)
