Welcome and introduction to the programme for day 1.

In this segment, Baroness Jones, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Future Digital Economy and Online Safety, will deliver a keynote speech on the UK Government’s AI priorities, including the role of digital standards in international governance.

In this segment, Roberto Viola, Director General for the European Commission’s Directorate‑General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (DG CONNECT) will deliver a keynote speech on the European Union’s approach to governing AI and the role of standards within this approach.

This segment will provide an overview of the AI Standards Hub’s mission and activities, with a focus on the Hub’s efforts to advance international collaboration, knowledge sharing, and capacity & network building.

In this segment, Tomas Lamanauskas, Deputy Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union, will deliver a keynote speech on the global AI technology landscape and the key needs, priorities, and challenges for AI standards development.

This panel will bring together leaders from various global standardization bodies to discuss the role of standards in ensuring AI safety and equity, and in enabling innovation in the sector. The discussion will highlight how these organizations collaborate to develop common approaches and ethical principles, and how they create standards that keep pace with disruptive technology, protect public interests, and support economic growth. Additionally, the panel will explore the evolving role of standardization in shaping AI governance that ensures emergent AI is controlled to limit negative impacts on national security and economic stability, and that AI is developed for equitable use.

In this session, national measurement institutes (NMIs) from around the world will present on their work to support confidence in AI, including measurement and metrics, testing and evaluation of data and systems. The following discussion will highlight the important role NMIs play in supporting confidence in products and systems and how this relates to AI standards. In particular, the discussion will examine international collaboration, pre-normative research, and the development of technical measurement standards to evaluate and assure AI tools and technologies.

In this segment, Jerry Sheehan, Director for Science, Technology and Innovation at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, will deliver a keynote speech on the relationship between AI standardisation and AI regulation and the role of international standards in enabling regulatory interoperability.

Recent years have seen growing attention on AI standardisation from policymakers, and international standards have emerged as a key element in debates about AI regulation. This session will examine the role of standardisation in the regulatory approaches taken by several prominent jurisdictions and consider the potential of standards to serve as tools for global regulatory interoperability.

In this keynote, Rebecca Finlay, CEO of the Partnership on AI, will speak about lessons learned and opportunities for sustained, international multistakeholderism to support the quality, interoperability and inclusiveness of AI norms and standards.

This segment will feature a video address from UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk on the role of human rights expertise in AI standards development.

Standards have played a critical role in building the foundation of technologies deeply embedded in our societies – from defining internet protocols to establishing global telecoms infrastructure. But how can standards address the complex sociotechnical challenges posed by AI? This panel will examine the intersection of human rights and standardisation in the context of AI, exploring current standards-setting processes, challenges in effectively integrating human rights considerations, and the roles of different stakeholder groups in overcoming these challenges. It will consider how AI standards can be shaped to reflect broader societal interests and uphold fundamental rights.

This segment will feature a video address by Gabriela Ramos, Assistant Director-General for Social and Human Sciences at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, on global cooperation, readiness, and capacity building for AI standardisation.

This session will feature a diverse range of perspectives from around the world, focusing on the importance of global cooperation and inclusivity in AI standardisation. The discussion will consider regional contextual differences – including factors that have historically limited participation in standards development from some regions – and examine strategies to advance inter-regional collaboration, promote the inclusion of underrepresented voices, and ensure that international standards development efforts address the needs and interests of stakeholders and communities around the globe.