"AI development is concentrated in a handful of wealthy nations. How can we ensure the gains of AI are shared globally?"
—
Mr. Chris Olah, Co-Founder, Anthropic
Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer a distant frontier. It is already reshaping the institutions through which societies govern, adjudicate, heal, work, and secure themselves. Its influence is increasingly visible in courtrooms and legal systems, in healthcare and public administration, in labor markets and critical infrastructure, and in the strategic calculations that underpin national security.
For Africa, the Caribbean, and Small Island Developing States (SIDS), the stakes are especially consequential. These regions stand to benefit profoundly from the transformative potential of AI, even as they confront risks that are neither abstract nor evenly distributed. Questions of bias, opacity, accountability, due process, technological dependence, data sovereignty, and institutional resilience now sit alongside deeper questions about human dignity, autonomy, and the role of human judgment in an age of increasingly capable machines.
This High-Level Forum convened by Harvard Law School’s Center for the Study of African Societies and Economies (CSASE) brings together national governments, senior policymakers, scholars, thought leaders, and technology experts to confront a central question: how can societies on the cusp of profound technological transformation harness the promise of AI while safeguarding the institutions, values, and interests on which legitimate governance depends? The Forum is grounded in a shared recognition that the decisions being made about AI today will shape justice systems, economies, public institutions, and societies for decades to come. It also reflects the urgency of ensuring that countries too often peripheral to global debates on technology are not merely recipients of systems designed elsewhere, but active participants in defining the principles, safeguards, and priorities that will govern the age of AI.
The stakes we must confront extend beyond technology. The High-Level Forum will catalyze complex examination of questions of sovereignty, justice, development, security, and the kind of societies we seek to build to ensure human flourishing in a rapidly changing world.
9:00-9:15am
Welcome
Prof. Ruth L. Okediji
Jeremiah Smith, Jr., Professor of Law, Harvard Law School
Faculty Director, Harvard Law School Center for the Study of African Societies and Economies (CSASE)
9:15-10:15am
Opening Address
H.E. Dr. Emmanuel Ugirashebuja
Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Republic of Rwanda
Chair:
Dr. Victor Oladokun
Former Senior Advisor to the President, African Development Bank Group
10:15-10:30am
Coffee & Tea
10:30am-12:00pm
Session I: Artificial Intelligence and the Global Innovation Frontier - Considerations for Human Welfare
Chair:
Prof. William W. Fisher
WilmerHale Professor of Intellectual Property Law, Harvard Law School
Artificial Intelligence: What It Is and Why It Matters
Mr. Chris Olah, Co-Founder, Anthropic
&
Ms. Chloe Lubinski, Head of Research Partnerships, Anthropic
12:00-1:15pm
Lunch
Benelux Room, InterContinental Geneva Hotel
1:15-2:45pm
Session II: Multinodal Governance of Artificial Intelligence - Regional, Multilateral, and Global Scenarios
Chair:
Prof. Konyinsola Ajayi, SAN
Professor of Law, Babcock University
Partner, Olaniwun Ajayi LP
Prospects for Regulating Artificial Intelligence
Mr. John S. Gardner
Former General Counsel, USAID
2:45-3:00pm
Coffee & Tea
3:00-4:30pm
Session III: Artificial Intelligence and Human Development - Risks, Opportunities, and Pathways
Chair:
Mr. Babatunde Irukera
Chairman, Veritas Kapital Assurance PLC
Former Executive Vice-Chairman/CEO, Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, Nigeria
Courts and Justice in the Algorithmic Age
Hon. Dunstan Mlambo
Deputy Chief Justice of South Africa
4:30pm
Adjournment
6:00pm
Reception & Private Dinner
Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Quai Turrettini 1, 1201 Geneva (map)
9:00-10:30am
Session IV: Designing Artificial Intelligence for Government Functions - Administrative and Operational Pathways
Chair:
Mrs. Mahlet Teshome Kebede
Principal Policy Officer for Science and Technology, African Union Commission
Innovation Institutions and Artificial Intelligence
Prof. Margo A. Bagley
Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law, Emory University School of Law
10:30-10:45am
Coffee & Tea
10:45am-12:15pm
Session V: Bargaining with Artificial Intelligence - Considerations for the Geopolitical Future
Chair:
Prof. Dêlidji Eric Degila
Professor of Practice of International Relations, Geneva Graduate Institute
Roundtable Discussion by Honorable Ministers
12:15-1:30pm
Lunch
Benelux Room, InterContinental Geneva Hotel
1:30pm
Closing
