Takeaways from the UNESCO Global AI Forum in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

The fourth UNESCO Global Forum on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence brought governments, technology leaders, academics and civil society to Riyadh to confront one of the defining questions of the AI era: how can global principles for responsible artificial intelligence be translated into practical governance?

The 4th UNESCO Global Forum on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence (GFEAI 2026) concluded in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, following four days of discussions focused on turning global AI ethics principles into actionable governance frameworks.

Held from 14 to 17 September 2026 at The Ritz-Carlton, Riyadh, the forum was co-hosted by UNESCO and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, represented by the Saudi Data & AI Authority (SDAIA) and the International Centre for AI Research and Ethics (ICAIRE).

It took place alongside the Global AI Summit 2026 during Saudi Arabia's Global AI Week and coincided with the Kingdom's designation of 2026 as its Year of Artificial Intelligence.
Under the theme “Transforming Global Cooperation for Ethical AI Governance,” the gathering brought together governments, international organisations, academia, industry and civil society. The event brought around 1,200 participants, more than 150 speakers and over 50 sessions, with 194 UNESCO Member States invited.

The programme included seven high-level ministerial dialogues and plenaries, 21 expert panels, scientific briefings, specialised workshops and side events, spanning subjects from AI governance and diplomacy to financing, education, culture, gender equality, sustainability and responsible innovation.

Here are some of the key takeaways from Riyadh.

AI governance is moving from principles to implementation

The global AI debate is increasingly moving beyond establishing ethical principles towards determining how those principles can actually be implemented.

At the centre of the discussions was UNESCO's Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence, adopted by UNESCO Member States in 2021 and described by the organisation as the first global standard on AI ethics.

The framework addresses the ethical, social and human-rights implications of AI and places particular emphasis on human dignity, fundamental rights, inclusion, gender equality, environmental sustainability and responsible innovation.

The Riyadh discussions therefore focused heavily on the institutional machinery needed to transform those principles into national policies, regulations, governance mechanisms and technical capabilities.

SDAIA President Dr Abdullah Alghamdi emphasised that responding to AI requires more than simply adopting new technologies. Countries also need institutions, regulatory frameworks, human and technical capabilities and international partnerships.

International cooperation as the central tenet

A second major theme was the difficulty of governing a technology that operates across national borders while countries possess dramatically different levels of technological, institutional and regulatory capacity.

UNESCO Deputy Director-General Åsa Regnér said the organisation's objective was to strengthen national governance while ensuring that AI ultimately delivers for people and the planet.

UNESCO has been working with more than 75 countries by providing technical expertise for national AI strategies and policies aligned with its Recommendation on the Ethics of AI. Fifty-eight countries have completed UNESCO's AI Readiness Assessment Methodology (RAM), designed to evaluate countries' legal, social, economic, educational and technological preparedness for AI.

More than 20,000 stakeholders, including Indigenous representatives and disability-rights leaders, contributed to the development of the methodology.

Regnér stressed that assessments inevitably produce different results depending on countries' individual circumstances, making international cooperation important in addressing disparities between developed and developing economies.

Besides Readiness Assessment Methodology (RAM 2.0), UNESCO also promoted its AI Environment and Ecosystems Toolkit.

RAM 2.0 expands the assessment framework to incorporate additional perspectives from women, persons with disabilities and Indigenous peoples.

The environmental toolkit addresses another increasingly important question: AI's ecological footprint. It is designed to help policymakers consider both the environmental costs associated with AI systems and their potential applications in climate action, biodiversity conservation and ecosystem resilience.

The widening global AI governance gap

The discussions in Riyadh also highlighted how AI governance is increasingly intertwined with economic development.

Countries are entering the AI era with substantially different levels of computing infrastructure, skills, education, institutional capacity and regulatory maturity.

UNESCO's Readiness Assessment Methodology is intended to identify those differences before countries develop or deploy AI at scale.

The methodology has already contributed to national AI strategies in countries including Bangladesh, Colombia, Ghana, Nigeria and Zimbabwe, while its findings have also informed broader initiatives including the African Union Continental AI Strategy.

Nigeria provides one example. UNESCO says its RAM process contributed to the development of the country's National AI Strategy by bringing together stakeholders from government, academia, business and civil society.

The implication is that global AI governance increasingly involves not only regulating powerful systems but also ensuring that countries have sufficient institutional capacity to participate meaningfully in the AI economy.

AI's Environmental Impact Has Entered the Governance Agenda

The environmental consequences of artificial intelligence were another prominent topic.

As AI models and infrastructure become larger and more computationally demanding, questions surrounding energy consumption, infrastructure and environmental impact are moving closer to the centre of international policy discussions.

The forum included dedicated discussions connecting AI ethics with environmental sustainability, while UNESCO's new environmental toolkit addresses the footprint of AI alongside potential applications of the technology for climate and biodiversity challenges.

This represents an important broadening of the responsible-AI debate.

Ethical AI governance is no longer confined to questions such as algorithmic bias, privacy and human rights. Increasingly, policymakers are also being asked to consider the physical infrastructure supporting AI and its consequences for natural ecosystems.

Education, Culture and Human Agency Remain Critical

The forum also demonstrated that AI governance cannot be separated from its impact on society.

Sessions examined how artificial intelligence is transforming education and cultural production, alongside questions involving inclusion, gender equality and young people.

The cultural sector participated in the Riyadh discussions, exploring the relationship between AI, culture and ethical governance.

These discussions reflect a wider transition in the global AI conversation. As generative AI becomes embedded in education, creative industries, workplaces and information ecosystems, governance questions increasingly extend beyond technical safety into questions about human participation, opportunity and cultural diversity.

AI Governance Must Prepare for Technologies Beyond Today's Generative AI

The forum also looked beyond today's dominant conversation around generative artificial intelligence.

Sessions addressed emerging areas including neurotechnology and synthetic biology, where the convergence of AI with other rapidly developing technologies could introduce new opportunities alongside complex ethical and governance questions.

The inclusion of these technologies suggests that AI governance frameworks will need to remain adaptable.

Regulation designed around today's models could quickly become insufficient as AI becomes increasingly connected to biological systems, healthcare technologies, robotics, scientific discovery and human-machine interfaces.

Saudi Arabia Is Expanding Its Role in International AI Governance

The choice of Riyadh was itself significant.

Saudi Arabia became the first Arab country to host UNESCO's Global Forum on the Ethics of AI, while the event took place during the Kingdom's designated Year of Artificial Intelligence.

Saudi Arabia was represented in the organisation of the forum through SDAIA and ICAIRE.

Dr Majid bin Ali Alshehry, acting director general of ICAIRE, said:

These efforts reinforce the Kingdom's position as an active partner in shaping the future of AI globally.

The forum was also held alongside the Global AI Summit during Global AI Week, bringing ethical governance discussions into a wider programme focused on artificial intelligence and technological development.

Hosting the UNESCO forum therefore places Riyadh within the expanding network of cities and institutions where international AI governance is being debated and developed.

From AI Ethics to AI Institutions

The central takeaway from Riyadh is that the global conversation surrounding responsible AI appears to be entering a more operational phase.

Governments and international institutions have spent several years establishing principles around human rights, transparency, inclusion, accountability, sustainability and responsible innovation. The emerging challenge is turning those principles into institutions, regulations, assessment mechanisms, investment frameworks and measurable outcomes.

UNESCO describes the Global Forum as a mechanism for advancing implementation of its Recommendation on the Ethics of AI through dialogue, knowledge exchange and international cooperation.

The Riyadh edition illustrated how wide that agenda has become.

AI governance now touches international diplomacy, economic development, education, culture, environmental sustainability, gender equality, emerging technologies and the distribution of technological capacity between nations.

And the discussion is increasingly moving from what ethical AI should mean to how ethical AI can actually be governed at scale.

As artificial intelligence develops faster and becomes embedded across more areas of economic and social life, the next stage of global AI governance may depend less on producing another set of principles and more on whether governments, companies and international organisations can build the institutions capable of putting existing principles into practice.