UNESCO’s 4th Global AI Ethics Forum shifts from principles to hard policy

UNESCO has opened the fourth edition of its Global Forum on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, bringing together ministers, regulators and senior tech executives to talk not just about values, but about enforceable rules. The focus this year is on turning broad ethical principles into concrete policies on data use, model transparency and cross‑border oversight.

UNESCO adopted a global AI ethics recommendation in 2021, covering issues such as privacy, discrimination and environmental impact. Implementation, however, has been patchy. Delegates in Riyadh are expected to compare draft regulations, explore shared standards for audits and evaluations, and discuss how to cooperate on cross‑border enforcement.

The forum takes place against a tense political backdrop. In the United States, President Trump has been pushing back against calls for strict AI rules, arguing that regulation would undermine innovation. That stance raises the stakes for multilateral venues like UNESCO: if major AI powers move at different speeds, it will be harder to prevent “safety shopping,” where companies gravitate to the least restrictive regime. How much convergence this forum can deliver will shape the global governance of AI in the coming years.