Mapping global AI governance: a nascent regime in a fragmented landscape

The rapid advances in the development and rollout of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies over the past years have triggered a frenzy of regulatory initiatives at various levels of government and the private sector. This article describes and evaluates the emerging global AI governance architecture and traces the contours of a nascent regime in a fragmented landscape. To do so, it organizes actors and initiatives in a two-by-two matrix, distinguishing between the nature of the driving actor(s)and whether or not their actions take place within the existing governance architecture. Based on this, it provides an overview of key actors and initiatives, highlighting their trajectories and connections. The analysis shows international organizations’ high levels of agency in addressing AI policy and a tendency to address new challenges within existing frameworks. Lastly, it is argued that we are witnessing the first signs of consolidation in this fragmented landscape. The nascent AI regime that emerges is polycentric and fragmented but gravitates around the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development(OECD), which holds considerable epistemic authority and norm-setting power