Artificial Intelligence and Global Governance:Legal and Political Challenges in Regulating AI Across Borders

Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a concept that is transforming the world by re-defining economies, governments and even societies. Nonetheless, various peculiarities of AI are the same features that enable it to be borderless i.e. distributed data, global supply chains, and cloud implementation that present a serious challenge to both law and politics. The qualitative research paper will look into how the international governance structures are making efforts to regulate AI through international borders, what are the challenges, and what paradigms of collaboration can improve accountability and equity in a global context. Through document analysis and thematic synthesis of international tools (e.g., OECD Principles on AI, UNESCO Recommendation, EU AI Act) and literature analysis on the topic, one can identify five common patterns, (1) normative convergence but regulatory divergence, (2) jurisdictional uncertainty and enforcement gaps, (3) concentrating the power in the hands of the few businesses, (4) capacity disparities between developed and developing states, and (5) geopolitical tensions behind the AI policy. The paper ends by expressing that multi-stakeholder, modular and capacity-building approaches are the most viable responses to good transnational regulation without taking a hit on human-right principles and democratic oversight.