IGF 2026 WS #173 Joint DC-CIV and D-AIG - Bridging Internet and AI Governance

Description

Internet governance has accumulated over two decades of technical, institutional, and procedural experience that offers valuable insights for AI governance, through both similarities and differences between the two domains. Building on work by the IGF Dynamic Coalition on Core Internet Values, the Policy Network on AI, the United Nations University, the AI Governance Lab for Humanity, and others, this session reflects on the past decade of Core Internet Values challenges and asks how core values such as openness, interoperability, and human rights online can inform AI governance while addressing its unique challenges. A central lesson from this comparison is methodological: separating a technology's own effects (such as massive scaling or friction reduction), from constant patterns of human behaviour and motivation, such as crime or altruism, and then reassembling the two to generate regulatory insight. Scaling and friction reduction recur as parallels across both technology worlds, though they surface differently: AI's scaling produces paradoxical effects of its own, and its friction reduction manifests as a distinct, cognitive form of friction. Because openness and interoperability flow in both directions between the two domains, preserving them becomes even more critical to building actionable governance mechanisms. The session aims to move from abstract principles to concrete, actionable policy recommendations, using regulatory learning and adaptation between internet and AI governance as its core method. Rather than treating AI governance as an entirely novel problem, the session argues that internet governance's hard-won lessons, about values, mechanisms, and the limits of technical fixes; offer a disciplined starting point for AI policy, provided the comparison is made explicit rather than assumed.

Policy Question(s)

A. What are the key similarities and differences between Internet governance and the governance of AI, and their relation to known human agency? B. How can the Core Internet Values applying to the Open Internet enhance and improve the prospects for beneficial AI governance? C. What lessons from the process of building Internet governance's stewardship of Core Internet Values can be applied for an AI governance that enhances AI safety, AI security, AI ethics, and at the same time an expanded infrastructure, access and use of AI for all?

Expected Outcomes

Policy Recommendations: Develop actionable guidelines for integrating Core Internet Values, such as openness, interoperability, and neutrality, into AI governance frameworks, aiming to maintain an open, fair, and user-centric digital environment. Best Practices Compilation: Create a repository of best practices that promote transparency, accountability, and inclusivity in AI development and deployment. Collaborative Frameworks: Establish models for stakeholder collaboration to address challenges at the intersection of Internet principles and AI ethics. Emphasis on practical outcomes, including country-specific outcomes of AI systems that work and serve the global community.

Reference Document

Format

Roundtable Duration (minutes): 90 Format description: The on-site moderator will explain the discussion topic and introduce speakers and subject matter experts, who will then engage in a round-table conversation. After this, the facilitators will open the floor for a full discussion amongst all participants. Speakers will be encouraged to engage with the points made by all participants. The round-table format is very helpful in facilitating full dialogue and our Dynamic Coalitions encourage such dialogues.

Hybrid Format

Hybrid Format: After years of organising IGF, ICANN and ISOC hybrid sessions, the organisers have extensive experience in fully utilising the hybrid format.

The session will have (1) panellist participation, then (2) invited speakers reactions and (3) Open Discussion - and for each, there will be local and remote speakers. At the end, each speaker will be given an opportunity to summarise major takeaways from the discussion. The online moderator will both interrupt the local co-moderators when there is a hand up in the room, but also look out in particular for the written contributions online, because not all participants are comfortable actually speaking their contributions. After the session, the report of the session will take into account both what was said and what was written during the session. Our 2025 IGF Session made full use of the hybrid nature of the session by having extensive participation from remote participants.

Organizers

Organizer 1: Olivier Crepin-Leblond, 🔒ISOC UK England Organizer 2: Sivasubramanian Muthusamy, 🔒Nameshop Organizer 3: Luca Belli, 🔒 Organizer 4: Yik Chan Chin, Beijing Normal University/UNU Macau Organizer 5: Alejandro Pisanty, 🔒UNAM, National University of Mexico Organizer 6: Walter Britto Gaspar, CTS-FGV

Speakers

Speaker 1: Vinton CERF, Private Sector, Western European and Others Group (WEOG) Speaker 2: Luca Belli, Civil Society, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC) Speaker 3: Alejandro Pisanty, Technical Community, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC) Speaker 4: Yik Chan Chin, Civil Society, Asia-Pacific Group Speaker 5: Sandrine ELMI HERSI, Government, Western European and Others Group (WEOG) Speaker 6: Milton Mueller, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)

Moderator

Luca Belli, Civil Society, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)

Online Moderator

Olivier Crepin-Leblond, Technical Community, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)

Rapporteur