As artificial intelligence (AI) systems have become increasingly capable, the world has awakened to the global stakes of this technology. AI’s impacts are often framed as an uncontrollable wave of technological change. But its trajectory is not preordained—its governance is a human choice, one that hinges on global institutions that are effective, coherent, and resilient to AI’s own disruptions. States and international institutions today face mounting pressure to address the impacts and risks of AI. How can they govern this changing technology, in a rapidly changing world, using governance tools that may themselves be altered by AI? This book provides conceptual and practical tools to tackle this question. Drawing from technology law, global governance scholarship, and history, it maps AI’s growing global stakes, traces the trajectory of its governance to date, and sets the scaffolding for new institutions. The book argues that, in crafting the global AI governance architecture, we must reckon with three facets of change: sociotechnical changes in AI systems’ impacts; AI-driven disruptions to the fabric of international law; and political changes in the global AI regime complex. Many governance approaches will be too static unless they adapt to these forces. In response, this book equips researchers and policymakers with insights and recommendations for questions of regulatory approach, instrument choice, and regime design. More than just an inquiry into how to govern AI, it explores the changing face of global cooperation in the intelligence era—and how we can safeguard human choice over a future of transformative technological change.

This book is included in DOAB.