Session
Subtheme
Organizer 1: Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Organizer 2: Civil Society, African Group
Organizer 3: Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Organizer 2: Civil Society, African Group
Organizer 3: Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 1: Samson Esayas, Private Sector, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 2: Isobel Acquah, Civil Society, African Group
Speaker 3: Vebjørn Røskar Krågebakk, Private Sector, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 4: Noha Lea Halim, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 5: Fabienne Marco, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 2: Isobel Acquah, Civil Society, African Group
Speaker 3: Vebjørn Røskar Krågebakk, Private Sector, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 4: Noha Lea Halim, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 5: Fabienne Marco, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Format
Classroom
Duration (minutes): 90
Format description: The classroom format with a 90-minute duration is best suited for this session because it allows for a structured yet highly interactive discussion that balances expert insights with audience participation. The format ensures that all participants can engage directly with speakers and each other, fostering a dynamic exchange of ideas while maintaining a clear focus on policy learning in AI governance.
Duration (minutes): 90
Format description: The classroom format with a 90-minute duration is best suited for this session because it allows for a structured yet highly interactive discussion that balances expert insights with audience participation. The format ensures that all participants can engage directly with speakers and each other, fostering a dynamic exchange of ideas while maintaining a clear focus on policy learning in AI governance.
Policy Question(s)
A. What lessons can be drawn from past governance challenges in digital technologies (e.g., internet regulation, data protection, and blockchain) to inform more effective and scalable AI governance strategies?
B. What conditions enable policymakers and institutions to move from static rule-making to iterative, evidence-based policy learning in the face of rapidly evolving AI technologies?
C. How can different institutional policy setting traditions (such as geographical ones) learn from each other?
What will participants gain from attending this session? Participants will gain a hands-on understanding of policy learning in AI governance, experiencing how governance adapts to emerging challenges in real time. Rather than a traditional panel, this session invites active engagement, allowing attendees to explore AI policy dilemmas alongside experts from law, technology, ethics, and creativity.
Participants will also explore how adaptive governance models reinforce societal resilience by empowering citizens with AI literacy, fostering public trust, and improving the public sector's capacity to respond to emerging challenges. By understanding how to integrate civic-driven values into AI governance, participants will leave equipped to develop policies that align technological innovation with social cohesion
By interacting with a diverse set of perspectives, attendees will challenge assumptions, test governance strategies, and rethink policy learning as an ongoing, adaptive process—one that ensures AI governance remains flexible, inclusive, and future-ready.
Description:
As the internet has transformed societies and intersected with emerging technologies, governance approaches must evolve beyond static regulatory models. This session explores policy learning as a dynamic and adaptive process—drawing from the lessons learned over decades of internet policy. It examines how insights from internet governance can inform the governance of emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence and beyond. By integrating perspectives from law, political science, ethics, design, and computational sciences, the session aims to craft governance frameworks that remain responsive and effective in the face of rapid technological change. To deepen the conversation, a midway pause will shift the focus to policy learning itself. How do institutions, governments, and industries absorb new knowledge, adjust regulatory approaches, and iterate policies based on emerging risks and opportunities? Participants will examine concrete examples—such as regulatory sandboxes, international AI agreements, and ethical AI guidelines—to unpack what effective policy learning looks like in practice. This session will be an improvised dialogue experiment, moving beyond traditional panels to create a dynamic conversation on emergent technology governance. Experts from policy, law, technology, creativity, and ethics will respond in real time to a live emergent technology governance challenge revealed at the start. The discussion will flow organically, with audience members encouraged to challenge assumptions, offer new perspectives, and help shape collective responses. Importantly, the session will also connect emergent technology governance to the broader challenge of strengthening societal resilience in a multipolar digital age. Participants will discuss how AI literacy, public-private collaboration, and adaptive governance structures are critical for sustaining democratic resilience and countering digital threats, such as disinformation and algorithmic bias. The session will close with a "Governance in 60 Seconds" round, where participants summarize their biggest takeaway in one sentence, capturing key insights on policy learning, governance innovation, and the evolving AI landscape.
As the internet has transformed societies and intersected with emerging technologies, governance approaches must evolve beyond static regulatory models. This session explores policy learning as a dynamic and adaptive process—drawing from the lessons learned over decades of internet policy. It examines how insights from internet governance can inform the governance of emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence and beyond. By integrating perspectives from law, political science, ethics, design, and computational sciences, the session aims to craft governance frameworks that remain responsive and effective in the face of rapid technological change. To deepen the conversation, a midway pause will shift the focus to policy learning itself. How do institutions, governments, and industries absorb new knowledge, adjust regulatory approaches, and iterate policies based on emerging risks and opportunities? Participants will examine concrete examples—such as regulatory sandboxes, international AI agreements, and ethical AI guidelines—to unpack what effective policy learning looks like in practice. This session will be an improvised dialogue experiment, moving beyond traditional panels to create a dynamic conversation on emergent technology governance. Experts from policy, law, technology, creativity, and ethics will respond in real time to a live emergent technology governance challenge revealed at the start. The discussion will flow organically, with audience members encouraged to challenge assumptions, offer new perspectives, and help shape collective responses. Importantly, the session will also connect emergent technology governance to the broader challenge of strengthening societal resilience in a multipolar digital age. Participants will discuss how AI literacy, public-private collaboration, and adaptive governance structures are critical for sustaining democratic resilience and countering digital threats, such as disinformation and algorithmic bias. The session will close with a "Governance in 60 Seconds" round, where participants summarize their biggest takeaway in one sentence, capturing key insights on policy learning, governance innovation, and the evolving AI landscape.
Expected Outcomes
The session will generate practical insights on policy learning as a governance tool for AI and emerging technologies, emphasizing how regulatory approaches can evolve through iterative policymaking, regulatory sandboxes, and cross-sectoral collaboration.
Expected outcomes include:
A synthesis of key insights on policy learning in AI governance, offering practical guidance for policymakers, researchers, and industry leaders.
Opportunities for follow-up engagements, such as working groups, research collaborations, or multistakeholder discussions to further explore AI policy learning in governance frameworks.
Hybrid Format: To ensure a truly hybrid and participatory experience, the session will integrate structured facilitation, real-time engagement tools, and interactive dialogue formats that enable seamless interaction between onsite and online attendees.
A dual-moderation setup will be used, with one moderator facilitating the in-room discussion and another dedicated to engaging the online audience. The online moderator will actively bring virtual attendees into the conversation by monitoring the chat, curating audience questions, and ensuring their contributions are addressed in real-time.
To create a fluid and inclusive dialogue, we will use a live audience polling and Q&A platform where both online and onsite participants can submit challenges, vote on governance dilemmas, and provide real-time feedback. Online attendees will also have the opportunity to engage through virtual breakout discussions, where they can develop responses alongside in-person participants.