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Global Dialogue Brief

Follow the Global Dialogue

Occasional, no-spam updates as it unfolds — new analysis, session outcomes and the documents that matter.

How we got here, and how it works

The Global Dialogue is the product of a multi-year UN process, and it works in tandem with a separate scientific body. Below is the sequence of events that led to it, and how the Dialogue's two bodies relate.

Two bodies, one effort

Resolution 79/325 created two things that are easy to confuse. One deliberates; the other advises.

The Global Dialogue

An inclusive, intergovernmental and multistakeholder forum — a place where all member states and other stakeholders exchange approaches and try to build common ground on AI governance. It meets periodically; the first session is in Geneva.

Co-chairs:
Egriselda López (El Salvador) & Rein Tammsaar (Estonia)
Role:
deliberation & coordination

The Independent Scientific Panel

A body of 40 experts serving in their personal capacity, balanced by gender and geography, tasked with issuing evidence-based assessments of AI's opportunities, risks and impacts. It informs the Dialogue but does not negotiate.

Co-chairs:
Yoshua Bengio & Maria Ressa
Role:
independent scientific advice

In short: the Panel informs; the Dialogue deliberates. More on the Panel

The road to the first session

  1. 22 Sept 2024

    The Global Digital Compact is adopted

    At the Summit of the Future in New York, UN member states adopt the Global Digital Compact, committing to establish an international scientific panel on AI and a global AI policy dialogue.

    Source
  2. Sept 2024

    “Governing AI for Humanity” report

    The Secretary-General's High-Level Advisory Body on AI publishes its final report, whose recommendations shape what follows.

    Source
  3. 26 Aug 2025

    Resolution 79/325 sets up the machinery

    The General Assembly establishes two complementary bodies: the Global Dialogue on AI Governance and the Independent International Scientific Panel on AI.

    Source
  4. Early 2026

    Call for written submissions

    Governments, civil society, the private sector, academia and others send more than 1,500 written inputs ahead of the first session. (We analyse these on the “What's been said” page.)

    Source
  5. 6–7 July 2026 · upcoming

    First Global Dialogue session

    The inaugural substantive session convenes in Geneva, with thematic discussions drawn from the resolution's priority areas.

    Source
  6. May 2027

    Second session

    A second session is expected in New York, beginning an annual cadence.

    Source

Dates and names on this page are compiled from UN sources and are pending a final verification pass before publication.