Artificial Intelligence at a Crossroads: Choosing the Right Path Toward Common Clarity, Common Cooperation, and Common Governance

Published 4 June 2025

Watch the TED Talk "Why AI is our ultimate test and greatest invitation" by Tristan Harris (opens in a new tab)

Please watch the Ted Talk "Why AI is our ultimate test and greatest invitation?" by Tristan Harris prior to reading this blog post. Thank You!

If you read my previous blog post, you know that in that post I discussed the use of social media in higher education settings and its' benefits vs. risks. I also encouraged you, the reader, after careful consideration and research, to utilize social media applications in your specific education settings. You may have disagreed with my last post and advice, and you may have even decided to avoid introducing modern technologies into your educational environment altogether. "There are too many risks when it comes to technology," you may have said, "My university is fine as it is. Let me just not "go there." And you know, I understand and even agree with you that in certain circumstances and in certain environments technology has no place. And even though I consider myself "an early adopter" when it comes to tech, I often wrestle with the pervasiveness and invasive saturation of our world with technical gadgets, devices, applications, machines, tools, and appliances. And unbelievably, at times I wish I could go back in time and put a stop to all this incessant twittering, beeping, chiming, and ringing of social media apps. But going back in time is not possible and is not the best solution to our social media woes, but then what is?

The earliest social media network, as per various internet sources, was "The Six Degrees Profile" in the year 1997. Times were simpler back then. We were mesmerized by the ability to instantly connect with our loved ones. We were younger, more naïve, and very unafraid. Then came the 2010s, a decade which is sometimes defined by the addictiveness and dangers of social media. The plain truth is, since its' creation almost thirty years ago, we have not seen much in terms of collaborative international legislation, practical guardrails, or even user guidelines when it comes to social media.

And now…enter Artificial Intelligence. AI is defined by some as a program or a piece of software that can perform tasks or produce output normally requiring human intelligence. This technology rivals them all! So, what do we do now? Do we focus on the AI risks and put a stop to its' development altogether? Do we embrace AI and assume that "time will tell" whether it is good or bad? If you watched Tristan Harris Ted Talk, you may now understand that AI is both – the greatest challenge and the greatest opportunity for humankind, and, unlike social media, AI is happening right NOW. The only difference – we do not have to go back in time to get it right. We can craft AI into what we, humans, need and want right now. (Harris, 2025)

I, along with AI experts and researchers, believe that NOW is the time for global clarity, global cooperation, and global governance agreements around Artificial Intelligence. This is the only way to avoid disaster and to ensure we ALL reap the many benefits of this very new and immensely powerful technology. Why is global cooperation needed when it comes to AI? Let us consider the emerging AI research.

The Ala-Pietilä & Smuha (2021) article says the following:

Over the last few years, numerous countries and regions established their own AI-strategies. These strategies typically focus on incentivizing local stakeholders to join forces and maximize AI's benefits, and – to more or lesser degrees – to minimize the risks raised thereby. While local initiatives are necessary, they are not sufficient to duly tackle the challenges and opportunities at stake and to secure AI's trustworthiness [18]. In a globalized world, countries are increasingly interdependent. The policy choices pursued by one country can thus have a significant impact on others – directly and indirectly. This impact is particularly pronounced in the context of AI, a technology transforming entire economies and societies, with clear cross-border effects [28, 40, 64]. Consequently, the need for global cooperation on AI and its governance arises in a growing number of areas. (Ala-Pietilä & Smuha, 2021, p.6)

And in a different quote:

Through common rules and standards, a space of mutual trust can be fostered, ensuring that AI-products and services can travel across the globe without crossing red lines that may cause individual or societal harm. In addition, global cooperation can leverage know-how and capabilities from multiple actors and orient these toward beneficial applications that are not captured by market incentives. In this way, cooperation initiatives can help secure that AI's opportunities are enjoyed by humanity at large – and by those who would benefit from it most – rather than solely by the traditionally privileged. (Ala-Pietilä & Smuha, 2021, p.8)

You may still feel that global cooperation with regards to Artificial Intelligence is an impossible task. However, let us consider history, as there are many historical instances of global cooperation. The article Ala-Pietilä & Smuha (2021) mentions these specific cooperation agreements:

The annals of global cooperation precede the second world war, yet it is in the aftermath thereof that such cooperation truly started taking off [17]. This leaves us with a long and rich experience of how global cooperation has been organized – on issues as diverse as nuclear weapons, aviation safety, space or the law of the sea – which can be drawn from in the context of AI. Many existing cooperation initiatives already touch upon matters that are (directly or indirectly) related to AI's concerns, from their own perspective. These initiatives have beaten tracks, distinct ways of working, ingrained procedures and established actors. As global cooperation on AI is thus embedded in a pre-existing setting, a close link exists between how such cooperation is organized (the process and shape) and who is involved (the cooperation organizer and partners) (Ala-Pietilä & Smuha, 2021, p.22)

An Óhéigeartaigh et al. (2020) article also talks about instances of global, international collaboration:

Regional and cultural differences on the abstract level of ethical assumptions and high-level principles are also not necessarily a barrier to agreement on more concrete norms and governance. If it were impossible to reach any practical agreement without consensus on fundamental ethical issues, many important international agreements— such as the Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty—would not have been possible. (Óhéigeartaigh et al., 2020. P.580)

This article also lists other examples of countries coming together over a specific issue of global importance:

For example, a community of arms control experts helped shape cooperation between the USA and Russia during the Cold War by creating an internationally shared understanding of the problem of nuclear arms control (Adler 1992), and the ecological epistemic community managed to successfully coordinate national policies to protect the stratospheric ozone layer (Haas 1992). (Óhéigeartaigh et al., 2020. P.582)

So global cooperation for Artificial Intelligence can occur, but what specific legislation, rules, or guidelines could this cooperation produce to ensure a bright AI future? In the short Ha (2025) article, an AI pioneer and a "Godmother of AI" Fei Fei Li, when asked about specific AI policies that she felt should be implemented right now, said that AI policymaking should follow three principles: "be based on science and not science fiction", "be pragmatic, rather than ideological", and empower "the entire AI ecosystem — including open-source communities and academia." (Ha, 2025) So there you have it. With an emphasis on international cooperation and scientifically based, pragmatic, and empowering policymaking regarding Artificial Intelligence, our human society can ensure a beneficial, productive, and equitable AI future for all of us, in which we will not wish to go back in time to change what we have created.

To expand on the topic of international cooperation, international collaboration can take many forms. In their proposal, a Stanford-based group of academics, policy makers, and researchers proposed the creation of a Multilateral AI Research Institute (MAIRI) that would provide member-countries with a venue to exchange global AI research and work on international AI development.

As the proposal says:

Developing responsible, human-centered artificial intelligence (AI) is a complex and resource-intensive task. As governments around the world race to meet the opportunities and challenges of developing AI, there remains an absence of deep, technical international cooperation that allows like-minded countries to leverage one another's resources and competitive advantages to facilitate cutting-edge AI research in a manner that upholds and promotes democratic values. Establishing a Multilateral AI Research Institute (MAIRI) would provide such a venue for force-multiplying AI research and development collaboration. It would also reinforce the United States' leadership as an international hub for basic and applied AI research, the development of AI governance models, and the fostering of AI norms that align with humancentric and democratic values. (Zhang et al., 2022, p.5)

Analyzing the research publication output of 10 countries (Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the EU-27, India, Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States) from 2010 to 2019, Georgetown University's Center for Security and Emerging Technology found that a higher percentage of research, including computer science research, published through international collaborations were "high-impact," or rather highly cited within their research field, compared to research that involves no international collaboration. (Zhang et al., 2022, p.7)

The Stanford academics believe that there is a need for an international body to conduct AI research and govern AI development, and that this body will have an ability to contribute to international AI research and development.

What we need RIGHT NOW is an international AI path. A path of clarity about what AI is and is not, about its' benefits and risks, and about its' purpose and the safe ways in which it can be utilized by every country in the world. As Tristan Harris remarks in his Ted Talk, the AI path lies somewhere in the middle, between the power of the few and the wisdom of many, between absence of legislation and overly strict legislation, between chaotic freedoms and harsh restraints, and between opportunities and risks. (Harris, 2025) I believe that, armed with good will and international cooperation, we can educate our global citizens about the world of AI, we can draft fair and beneficial legislation and rules for AI governance, and we can firmly grasp our pens and write our own shared technological future. As the authors of Ala-Pietilä & Smuha (2021) conclude:

AI is not a force of nature, but a tool designed by human beings. Consequently, whether, when, how and for what purposes AI is used, is an entirely human responsibility. All stakeholders across the globe – regardless of their nationality, ideology or value-system – carry this responsibility, and they carry it collectively. This raises citizens' legitimate expectation that, for all those areas where cooperation is needed to maximize AI's benefits for humanity and prevent and minimize its risks, actors across the world will roll up their sleeves. (Ala-Pietilä & Smuha, 2021, p.31)

Wherever and whoever you are, you can participate in this global discussion around Artificial Intelligence. Write to your members of Congress, contact your educational administrators, and join organizations taking part in ethical, equitable, and beneficial development of AI products. Grab a pen, roll up your sleeves, and let us steer AI into the path of common clarity, common cooperation, and common governance.

← All writing