Challenging Minority Rule: Developing AI Standards that Serve the Majority World

This essay considers the emerging transnational governance frameworks for AI that are being developed under the auspices of a handful of powerful regulatory blocs, namely the United States, the European Union, and China, which are best positioned to influence emerging global standards. It argues that these represent a relatively homogenous set of global interests, and that while attempts to develop binding rules of the road are laudable, the world would be better served if the standard-setting processes represented a more diverse set of stakeholders, and that perspectives from the people of the Global South, otherwise known as the Majority World, should be an essential component to developing new standards to govern the development and deployment of AI technologies.