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AI Governance From First Principles
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1 / 15 · AI Governance From First Principles
The essay, in fifteen slides
AI Governance From First Principles
One definition—and the questions it teaches us to ask.
AIGovSpec
2 / 15 · Those things matter. But a list of instruments does not explain the problem they are meant to solve.
When someone asks what AI governance is, we answer with a list
laws · policies · standards · audits · risk frameworks · oversight bodies
Those things matter. But a list of instruments does not explain the problem they are meant to solve.
It also makes the field sound distant from anyone who does not write laws, build models, or attend policy meetings.
AI Governance From First Principles
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3 / 15 · Practice came long before agreement on a definition
Part one · How we describe AI governance today
Practice came long before agreement on a definition
2017–18
Naming a field
Layers of standards, ethics and law. A field of study.
2019–21
Principles, oversight, rights
OECD, IEEE, UNESCO, the African Commission.
2022–23
Inside the organisation
Rules, processes and tools; ISO standards; NIST.
2024
The word was everywhere
The EU AI Act, the Council of Europe, the UN.
2025–26
Dialogue and agents
Kenya, India, a UN Global Dialogue, agentic AI.
38
documents read, 2017 to 2026
13
offer a definition
19
describe an approach
6
build on the term
From AIGovSpec’s History: how the world has thought about governing AI
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4 / 15 · Four patterns stand out
Reading across the record
Four patterns stand out
01 Practice came first
Institutions, laws and dialogues were built while the meaning was still being worked out.
02 Definitions name the toolkit
Most pair instruments (rules, processes, practices) with a purpose: what governance is made of.
03 Adaptation is shared
Many call for agile, living governance. When to act is raised far less often.
04 Development and choice
The African Union, Latin America and the UN frame governance around inclusion and policy choice.
From AIGovSpec’s History: what the record teaches
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5 / 15 · Everything in our definition owes something to this record. What we add is a way of holding it together.
Part two · Why a new definition
Everything in our definition owes something to this record. What we add is a way of holding it together.
What we take
A field of inquiry · Dafoe
Practice someone has to run · Mäntymäki, Kenya
Benefits broadly shared · UN, African Union, Montevideo
Governance that keeps learning · NIST, OECD, Singapore
What we did not find in one sentence
1 · All four things governance acts on
2 · Those, a purpose and timing, held together
AI Governance From First Principles
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6 / 15 · Our definition, from first principles
Our definition, from first principles
AI governance is the field of inquiry and practice concerned with how societies should shape the incentives, institutions, infrastructures and safeguards around AI to share its benefits broadly, prevent and address harm, and maintain the capacity to change course as today’s choices become tomorrow’s conditions.
7 / 15 · Breaking down the definition into smaller parts
Part three · The sentence, part by part
Breaking down the definition into smaller parts
Who decides
1 Inquiry and practice
2 Societies
3 Should shapeWhere it acts
4 Incentives
5 Institutions
6 Infrastructures
7 Safeguards
↻ Power, across all fourWhat it delivers
8 Share its benefits broadly
9 Prevent and address harmOver time
10 As today’s choices become tomorrow’s conditions
11 Maintain the capacity to change courseOne thread runs through every part: a health ministry deciding whether to buy an AI tool that helps triage patients.
AI Governance From First Principles
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8 / 15 · Governance is something we study, and something we do.
Parts 1–3 · Who decides
Governance is something we study, and something we do.
1
Inquiry and practice
learning what works, and making it count
What do we need to learn—and how will that knowledge change what someone does?
2
Societies
who gets to decide?
Who has authority, who is affected, and how can those affected influence or challenge the decision?
3
Should shape
which possibilities are we making easier?
Which possibilities are we making easier to pursue—and for whom?
Question to carry, under each part
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9 / 15 · Shaping happens in particular places. Here are the four objects.
Parts 4–7 · Where governance acts
Shaping happens in particular places.
Here are the four objects.4
Incentives
what does the environment reward?
What makes that promise hold under pressure?
5
Institutions
who can act?
Who is responsible? And what makes them capable of exercising that responsibility?
6
Infrastructures
what does this depend on, and who controls it?
What are we becoming dependent on—and what alternatives will remain?
7
Safeguards
what makes protection real?
What prevents, detects, limits, or remedies failure—and what happens when it fails?
Question to carry, under each part
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10 / 15 · Underneath all four lies one thing: power. It runs through all of them.
↻ Power · who sets the terms?
Underneath all four lies one thing: power.
It runs through all of them.Whoever controls incentives, institutions, infrastructures or safeguards sets terms for everyone else. And governance does not only constrain power. It creates it: every auditor, regulator and review board is a new holder of authority.
Question to carry
What power does this mechanism create—and who will hold it accountable?
AI Governance From First Principles
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11 / 15 · Our definition names both sides of the ledger: the gains, and the harm.
Parts 8–9 · What governance should deliver
Our definition names both sides of the ledger:
the gains, and the harm.8
Share its benefits broadly
who gains?
Who gains, who bears the risks and costs, and what would count as a fair outcome?
9
Prevent and address harm
two verbs, two jobs
What harm could this cause, who will notice it, and what happens for the people already affected?
Real example
17.7% → 46.5%
A US hospital algorithm used past spending to predict need. Correcting that bias would raise the share of Black patients flagged for extra care from 17.7% to 46.5%.
Obermeyer et al., Science, 2019
Question to carry, under each part
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12 / 15 · Prevention and remedy both depend on when we act. And acting early means acting with incomplete knowledge.
Parts 10–11 · Over time
Prevention and remedy both depend on when we act. And acting early means acting with incomplete knowledge.
10
As today’s choices become tomorrow’s conditions
why timing matters
What are we committing ourselves to, and how difficult will it become to change course?
11
Maintain the capacity to change course
governance must be able to learn
How will we discover that this arrangement is failing—and how will we change it?
The timing problem
“When change is easy, the need for it cannot be foreseen; when the need for change is apparent, change has become expensive, difficult and time-consuming.”
David Collingridge, 1980
Question to carry, under each part
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13 / 15 · A guide to carry into the next conversation
Put the parts back together
A guide to carry into the next conversation
Look at Ask Inquiry and practice What must we learn, and how will it change action? Authority and participation Who decides, who is affected, and who can challenge? Incentives What behavior is rewarded under pressure? Institutions Who can act, and do they have the capacity? Infrastructures What dependencies are created, and what alternatives remain? Safeguards What protects people, and what follows when it fails? Power and distribution Who gains, who bears costs, and who holds new authority? Timing What becomes harder to reverse if we wait? Learning and revision What evidence triggers review, and who can change course? Begin with the real-world outcome a proposal is meant to shape. Then examine the arrangements behind it.
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14 / 15 · What this changes in practice
Return to the ministry
What this changes in practice
Before
“Is the model accurate enough?”
One question, about the tool.
After
Perhaps we should begin with...
- A limited pilot, keeping existing clinical capacity
- Evidence of performance across patient groups
- Access to records, and rights to export data
- Independent scrutiny
- Conditions for expansion or suspension
- Ability to change tool or provider.
Illustrative choices, not a universal prescription.
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15 / 15 · When someone asks what AI governance is, begin here
When someone asks what AI governance is, begin here
How do societies shape the conditions around AI—and who has the power to influence those choices?
Govern while choices are still open.
And build governance that can still change its mind.
Read the essay, the history and the parts at aigovspec.com · A CENTPOL product · Built by Samuel Abinsinguza
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AIGovSpec · aigovspec.com/slides
AI Governance From First Principles
Dataset 0.7.0, dated 2026-10-27.
Research preview: independent expert review is pending.
Licensed CC BY 4.0. Share and adapt with credit to AIGovSpec, and note your changes.
Essay and slides by Samuel Abinsinguza · A CentPol product