Behind the Scenes in Global AI Diplomacy w/ Buffett Institute

The prevailing wisdom holds that the world is fragmenting and that an accelerating AI military race, great-power stalemate at the United Nations (UN) Security Council, and deep distrust of multilateral solutions have made cooperation on the technologies that will define this century all but impossible. Professor Garcia will take the audience behind the scenes of global diplomacy to reveal a more nuanced story. Drawing on more than a decade of participant observation at AI summits and negotiations as a Global Commissioner on the Responsible Use of AI in the Military Domain (The Hague, 2023–2026) and as a member of the International Panel for the Regulation of Autonomous Weapons (Berlin, 2017–2022), she shows that governance is not collapsing but rising in new forms. From the Berlin panel, which advised the UN's effort in Geneva to negotiate a new treaty on autonomous weapons — a process she has observed since 2014 — to the summits where AI governance is now being written, Garcia has watched these rules take shape from the inside. Where treaties stall and leaders hesitate, transnational political networks of scientists and civil society are assembling to move AI governance from principles to practice.
While visiting these diplomatic capitals — including Geneva, New York, Seoul, Abu Dhabi, Cape Town, and Paris — she has also watched middle powers breathe new oxygen into that order, their coalitions supplying energy and initiative precisely where the superpowers withhold cooperation. Garcia will trace three movements she has followed and named: a scientist-led movement for Beneficial & Safe AI, a multistakeholder movement for Ethical & Principled AI, and an UN-anchored movement for AI for Good & for Humanity. Across all three, she identifies a striking pattern: grassroots initiatives by those closest to the technology consistently precede and catalyze governmental action. Her account is optimistic but also sobering. The military race continues, the gap between principles and action is real, and competition may yet outpace cooperation. But by reframing AI from a strategic asset into a common good, these networks offer the clearest evidence yet that the international order is being remade — and a firsthand look at who is doing the remaking.

Please register free of charge at: https://events.humanitix.com/breathing-oxygen-into-a-failing-world-order-behind-the-scenes-in-global-ai-diplomacy-or-roberta-buffett-visiting-professor-lecture-by-denise-garcia?c=planitpurple

This event is hosted by the Roberta Buffett Institute for Global Affairs. We from the Geopolitical Forum can continue the conversation and hang out after the event wraps up, perhaps over a coffee.

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