Open Letter for South Africa to lead a strong Global Governance of AI and a Global AI Lab
Last December 18th, 6 leading NGOs launched the Coalition for a Baruch Plan for AI to foster a uniquely bold, timely and effective treaty-making process for AI.
The Coalition aims to bring together pioneering NGOs and states to build a bold, federal, global intergovernmental organization for Artificial Intelligence - akin to the bold 1946 Baruch Plan for nuclear technologies - while resiliently affirming the subsidiarity principle.
Such an organization will include a Global Public Benefit AI Lab funded to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars, to enable participant states to share the most advanced safe AI.
To succeed, and avoid the failures of the Baruch Plan, it is paramount to adopt a treaty-making process that is sufficiently timely, bold, effective, open and democratic, based on proven models.
South Africa is uniquely positioned to be the leader or co-leader of a uniquely-bold initiative for AI governance and joint capability building that is commensurate with the immense risks for human safety, and for concentration of power and wealth in a few states and firms, and the astounding opportunities.
Why in South Africa uniquely positioned to lead the Coalition?
SA has the Presidency of the 2025 G20 Summit. The G20 aggregates 80% of the world's population and is uniquely geopolitically diverse. It is the best fitting "forum" to achieve the critical mass needed for an intergovernmental constituent assembly for AI and the Lab.
SA strategy documents on AI call clearly for international AI governance and multinational capacity building
SA president Ramaphosa called already in 2020 for an AI forum within the African Union, well before AI potential became widely known.
SA has a relatively high strategic autonomy on the global stage.
SA has shown to be a courageous country as the first country to have had nuclear weapons, disarmed them and gone on to sign the treaty of non-proliferation, and via its remarkable show of geopolitical courage in suing a very powerful states for genocide to the ICJ in 2024.
The three most influential advisors to president Trump on AI policy - Elon Musk, Peter Thiel and David Hicks - are all from South Africa, and all three have stated clearly their deep concerns about AI safety and two of them about the need for strong global regulation.
How could South Africa lead?
Together with our Coalition, South Africa and your Mission to join other suitable NGO and state partners in organizing an hybrid event in Geneva this Spring to discuss and introduce such an initiative to other member states and global media, and gain traction with it.
Relevant entities interested in a “Baruch Plan for AI” or a Geneva Summit:
We have a clear written interest by the Head of Mission to the UN in Geneva of the African Union, following their careful analysis, from last Spring, and their introduction to their HQs.
We had a meeting and several exchanges with the responsible Secretary of South Africa Mission to the UN in Geneva (who tried to set up a call in Pretoria last Spring) and that of Zambia. We met the Head of Mission to the UN of Kenya in his offices.
The Rector of the United Nations University (HQs in Tokyo), the South African Prof Marwala, following a Zoom last December, has shown initial interest in such an event (possibly even in Pretoria).
The Head of Mission to the UN in Geneva of The Gambia, and also Chair of the Amb. Muhammadou Kah has been a close and very active formal advisor of TCA and the Coalition for 18 months.
The Executive Director of the South Africa based Global Center for AI Governance, Fola Adeleke, was a speaker in our virtual 1st Pre-Summit, held along the G7 in Italy last June, and recently appreciated our recent Launch of the Coalition.
Some of the NGOs in charge of the T20 track of SA G20 Presidency seem quite fitting in their political stance to embrace an initiative as disruptive as a “Baruch plan for AI”.
More information
The Coalition: For an introduction, let me invite you to review our 800-word Open Call and our 2,500-word Executive Summary webpage. and find here a 1,000-word Open Letter for non-Superpower States, which summarizes the case and the terms of a preliminary MoU for states like South Africa.
The Proposed Event: Here is an initial draft webpage for the proposed event, provisionally named 1st Harnessing AI Risk Summit, including some of the persons and entities interested to participate or confirmed. We have awide network that would enable us to attract the greatest AI experts worldwide to an event supported by South Africa. We are open to the possibility of moving such an event to South Africa.
