Session
Description:
Policymakers, civil society and technical communities increasingly depend on one another as the overlap between public policy objectives and the design and operation of the Internet continues to grow. Multistakeholder interaction within open Internet standardisation has therefore become an increasingly important dimension of Internet governance. It is also challenging, and the emergence of AI raises new questions. At the root of these challenges is a fundamental gap: different communities use different terminology, evidence, timelines, incentives, mandates and sources of legitimacy. Assessing the technical implications of policy interventions, or the societal, political and economic implications of technical standards, is difficult. Participation is further constrained by lengthy deliberations on technically complex topics and the large volume of standards outputs, only some of which ultimately see deployment. AI brings both opportunities and risks. It may lower barriers to participation through summarisation, translation, drafting and analysis, making complex technical discussions more accessible. At the same time, AI-generated contributions may reshape open standards processes by introducing new challenges for transparency, accountability, consensus formation, information overload and the evaluation of technical arguments. As AI-assisted participation moves from isolated experiments to practical deployment, important questions arise about who shapes open Internet standards and how this may affect multistakeholder Internet governance. The workshop will be a moderated discussion with active onsite and online participation. Participants will first identify the barriers they encounter when engaging with standardisation processes, followed by reflections from the panellists. The discussion will then examine how AI is being used in standardisation, where it can improve collaboration, and where it may create new challenges. The session will conclude by identifying areas of agreement, disagreement and priorities for further work.
Policymakers, civil society and technical communities increasingly depend on one another as the overlap between public policy objectives and the design and operation of the Internet continues to grow. Multistakeholder interaction within open Internet standardisation has therefore become an increasingly important dimension of Internet governance. It is also challenging, and the emergence of AI raises new questions. At the root of these challenges is a fundamental gap: different communities use different terminology, evidence, timelines, incentives, mandates and sources of legitimacy. Assessing the technical implications of policy interventions, or the societal, political and economic implications of technical standards, is difficult. Participation is further constrained by lengthy deliberations on technically complex topics and the large volume of standards outputs, only some of which ultimately see deployment. AI brings both opportunities and risks. It may lower barriers to participation through summarisation, translation, drafting and analysis, making complex technical discussions more accessible. At the same time, AI-generated contributions may reshape open standards processes by introducing new challenges for transparency, accountability, consensus formation, information overload and the evaluation of technical arguments. As AI-assisted participation moves from isolated experiments to practical deployment, important questions arise about who shapes open Internet standards and how this may affect multistakeholder Internet governance. The workshop will be a moderated discussion with active onsite and online participation. Participants will first identify the barriers they encounter when engaging with standardisation processes, followed by reflections from the panellists. The discussion will then examine how AI is being used in standardisation, where it can improve collaboration, and where it may create new challenges. The session will conclude by identifying areas of agreement, disagreement and priorities for further work.
Policy Question(s)
A. How is AI changing the ability of policymakers, civil society and technical communities to shape discussions and outcomes in open Internet standardisation, and what does this mean for multistakeholder Internet governance?
B. Which challenges may be addressed through technical or procedural responses and safeguards, which require changes in relationships, processes or institutions, and where is further evidence or discussion needed?
Expected Outcomes
This workshop will identify open questions, evidence gaps and priorities to guide the multistakeholder discussion and collaboration on AI-assisted participation in open Internet standardisation.
The workshop will start by clarifying how barriers among policymakers, civil society and technical communities shape participation, how AI may reduce some barriers while reinforcing or creating others, and how AI may affect the distribution of influence within multistakeholder Internet governance. Panellists and participants will then identify which questions may be addressed through technical or procedural responses and safeguards, and which require further discussion about relationships, processes or institutions.
A report will capture these findings and set out an agenda for continued work in this emerging area. The organisers will take this forward through multistakeholder exchanges and related research within the IRTF, particularly RASPRG, sharing the resulting work through relevant IETF, IAB, W3C, RIRs and Internet governance channels and using it to inform future IGF activity.
Format
Roundtable
Duration (minutes): 90
Format description: The workshop will use a 90-minute round-table format to support direct exchange among panellists and onsite and online participants. The session will be a moderated discussion, supported by polls and structured requests for input through online tools. The moderators will incorporate these contributions throughout the discussion. The round-table layout will facilitate exchange across civil society, policymakers, industry, academia and the technical community, bringing together different regional and institutional perspectives. The 90-minute duration will provide time to introduce the issue, gather participant input, hear short reflections and concrete examples from the panellists, examine areas of agreement and disagreement, and conclude by identifying open questions and priorities for further discussion.
Duration (minutes): 90
Format description: The workshop will use a 90-minute round-table format to support direct exchange among panellists and onsite and online participants. The session will be a moderated discussion, supported by polls and structured requests for input through online tools. The moderators will incorporate these contributions throughout the discussion. The round-table layout will facilitate exchange across civil society, policymakers, industry, academia and the technical community, bringing together different regional and institutional perspectives. The 90-minute duration will provide time to introduce the issue, gather participant input, hear short reflections and concrete examples from the panellists, examine areas of agreement and disagreement, and conclude by identifying open questions and priorities for further discussion.
Hybrid Format: This will be a participant-led discussion. Onsite and online participants will join the discussion directly by requesting the floor, submitting questions through the chat and responding to prompts from the moderators. The online moderator will monitor remote interventions and chat contributions, while the onsite moderator will move between onsite and online speakers and connect participant input with short reflections and examples from the panellists.
To further engage online and onsite participants, the session will complement the official IGF platform, polling and written-input tools will be accessible online and in the room through a link or QR code. The online moderator will consolidate these inputs and present the main themes at designated points in the session. This will surface recurring concerns, less visible perspectives and priorities that may not emerge through direct interventions alone. The closing synthesis will combine the live discussion with the consolidated input from onsite and online participants.
Organizer 1: Dirk Kutscher, Internet Research Task Force
Organizer 2: Castro Ignacio, Queen Mary University of London
Organizer 2: Castro Ignacio, Queen Mary University of London
Speaker 1: Anriette Esterhuysen, Civil Society, African Group
Speaker 2: Mark Nottingham, Technical Community, Asia-Pacific Group
Speaker 3: Esteve Esteve Sanz, Intergovernmental Organization, Intergovernmental Organization
Speaker 2: Mark Nottingham, Technical Community, Asia-Pacific Group
Speaker 3: Esteve Esteve Sanz, Intergovernmental Organization, Intergovernmental Organization
Moderator
Castro Ignacio, Technical Community, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Online Moderator
Castro Ignacio, Technical Community, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Rapporteur
Castro Ignacio, Technical Community, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
What will participants gain from attending this session?
