The Agenda
The full agenda will be as follows:
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09:00 – 10:30
Chair’s Welcome and Opening Keynote
Lord Chris Holmes of Richmond MBE, Member, House of Lords — Chair, World AI Regulation Summit 2026
Keynote #2: The Geopolitics of AI Regulation in 2026
As artificial intelligence transitions from a technological race to a strategic geopolitical asset, global powers are aggressively defining their regulatory perimeters. This session examines how different governance philosophies—ranging from the EU's rights-based approach to China's state-controlled algorithmic sovereignty and the US/India models of innovation-focused regulation—are fracturing the global tech landscape.
Speaker: Gabriele Mazzini, Lead Architect and Drafter of the EU AI Act
Keynote #3: Challenges in the Development of AI Regulation in the US
Explore the fragmented U.S. AI policy landscape. This session unpacks the collision between rapid tech innovation and gridlocked federal legislation, state-level compliance patchworks, and the push for a unified national framework. Industry leaders will detail strategies to navigate current uncertainty.
Speaker: Alex Engler, Executive Director, Penn Center on Media, Technology, and Democracy
On-stage Dialogue: Two Regulatory Philosophies, One Global Technology
Where AI regulatory approaches converge and where they diverge across jurisdictions.
Moderated exchange between the EU and US keynote speakers, chaired to surface where the two frameworks converge, where they collide, and what that means for every other jurisdiction watching both.
Speakers: Lord Chris Holmes of Richmond MBE and Alex Engler
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10:30 – 11:00
Morning Networking Coffee Break
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11:00 – 11:30
AI Sovereignty — What Should It Mean to Countries and Corporates?
This session defines what countries and corporates must control to survive geopolitical and commercial shocks. We explore how nations secure infrastructure and jurisdiction, while corporates defend their competitive moats through proprietary workflow context and localized AI stacks.
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11:30 – 12:00
Foundation Models and General-Purpose AI: Regulating the Infrastructure Layer
What belongs at the model, deployment and infrastructure layers — and how to regulate frontier capability without freezing innovation. Widened to include how standards bodies (ISO, IEEE, ITU, OECD, NIST) are becoming the practical terrain for aligning infrastructure-layer rules across jurisdictions. This session unpacks responsibilities across the foundation model, deployment, and infrastructure layers. Industry leaders and policymakers will explore how to regulate frontier capabilities without stifling innovation, and how ISO, IEEE, ITU, OECD, and NIST frameworks are aligning global infrastructure rules.
Speaker: Gabriele Mazzini
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12:00 – 12:30
Agentic AI and Autonomous Systems: When the System Acts, Who Is Accountable?
Liability, evidence and human oversight when AI agents browse, decide, transact and escalate on their own. This session explores the critical challenges of liability, evidentiary tracking, and human oversight, equipping attendees with strategies to govern agentic systems effectively.
Speaker: Dr Mark Leiser, Professor, Leiden University Law School of Digital Regulation and Policy
Moderator: John Howell
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12:30 – 13:30
Networking Lunch
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Key Regional Trends — Parallel Sessions
13:30 – 14:10 TRACK A TRACK B Update from the UAE / Saudi Arabia / Gulf
The Gulf's sovereignty-first governance model — national AI strategy, cybersecurity oversight and regional data infrastructure.
Update from Brazil / LATAM
Global-South perspective on AI governance and public-policy priorities beyond the EU/US/China frame.
14:10 – 14:50 TRACK A TRACK B Update from Singapore
The Model AI Governance Framework and AI Verify — operationalising testable, verifiable AI governance.
Update from South Korea
Implementing the AI Basic Act — the first comprehensive AI statute enacted outside Europe.
14:50 – 15:30 TRACK A TRACK B Update from China
Generative AI Measures, the Deep Synthesis Provisions and China's state-aligned compliance model.
Update from South Africa
An African governance perspective — not yet represented on the current roster.
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15:30 – 16:00
Afternoon Tea Break
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16:00 – 16:30
Generative AI, Training Data, Copyright and the Global Litigation Wave
Court decisions in the US, UK and EU are setting precedent faster than legislatures can respond — training data, opt-outs, fair use and the emerging licensing market. This session analyzes cross-jurisdictional litigation across the US, UK, and EU, examining shifting precedents on fair use, the practical limits of data opt-outs, and the rapid evolution of licensing frameworks for generative AI training data.
Speakers: Bojana Bellamy, Alex Engler
Moderator: John Howell
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16:30 – 17:00
Rapporteur’s Closing for Day 1
A synthesis of the day's proceedings and the questions carried into Day 2.
Lord Chris Holmes of Richmond MBE
Dr Sepideh “Sepi” Chakaveh, Rapporteur, World AI Regulation Summit 2026
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09:00 – 10:00
Keynote: From the AI Act to Enforcement — Lessons from Europe’s First Compliance Cycle
Day 2 opens on assurance, audit and compliance. The EU's high-risk obligations are biting before technical standards and supervisory tooling are ready — the first real test of whether risk-based regulation can be enforced in practice, and what other jurisdictions should take from it.
Keynote Speaker: Brando Benifei MEP, Member of the European Parliament; Co-Rapporteur of the EU AI Act
Panel Discussion
Widened to explicitly cover AI Assurance and Third-Party Testing — voluntary frameworks vs. mandatory audits, reframed around the live dispute between Anthropic's Advanced AI Framework (mandatory testing) and the White House's voluntary 30-day review order. To include country-specific briefers recycled from other sessions; panel of at least two, moderated by John.
Brando Benifei MEP
Dr Mark Leiser
Moderator: John Howell
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10:00 – 10:30
Morning Networking Coffee Break
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Industry-Specific Breakout Sessions
10:30 – 11:30 TRACK A TRACK B Financial Services
Model risk management, algorithmic trading oversight and AI in credit/underwriting decisions under the EU AI Act's high-risk regime, UK regulator guidance (FCA/PRA/Bank of England) and US state-level rules.
Conny Dorrestijn
Moderator: John Howell
Healthcare
Clinical decision-support AI, diagnostic tools and medical device classification — how regulators are drawing the line between a “wellness app” and a regulated medical device.
11:30 – 12:30 TRACK A TRACK B Pharmaceuticals and Life Sciences
AI in drug discovery, clinical trial design and regulatory submissions — where existing pharma regulation already anticipates (or doesn't) AI-generated evidence.
E-Government and Public Sector
Automated eligibility decisions, public-service chatbots and algorithmic transparency registers — accountability standards when the state itself is the deployer.
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12:30 – 13:30
Networking Lunch
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AI Regulation Masterclasses
Practitioner “how to” training sessions, each led by a lawyer or an activist.
13:30 – 14:00 TRACK A TRACK B How to Build an AI Risk Register That Survives an Audit
How to establish a comprehensive AI use-case inventory, align with recognized governance frameworks (such as ISO/IEC 42001 or NIST AI RMF), and maintain auditable evidence like decision records, control checklists, and testing results.
Dr Mark Leiser
How to Run a Public-Interest Algorithmic Audit
Running a public-interest algorithmic audit involves systematically evaluating an AI or machine learning system for biases, harms, and transparency. Because platforms fiercely protect their source code, public-interest audits typically rely on external "black-box" testing methodologies, such as creating controlled experimental environments, querying APIs, or deploying audit studies to measure real-world outputs.
Reema Patel
Dr Jeni Tennison
14:00 – 14:30 TRACK A TRACK B How to Conduct a Conformity Assessment Under the EU AI Act
Conducting a conformity assessment under the EU AI Act requires developers of High-Risk AI Systems to evaluate compliance across key areas: risk management, data governance, technical documentation, transparency, human oversight, and cybersecurity. Providers must do this before placing their systems on the market.
Gabriele Mazzini, Lead Architect and Drafter of the EU AI Act
How to Build Community Voice into Data and AI Governance
Building community voice into data and AI governance shifts the process from a theoretical top-down exercise to a democratic, transparent practice. It involves institutionalizing feedback loops, ensuring diverse stakeholder representation, and co-designing policies directly with the populations most affected by automated decision-making.
Jeni Tennison, Executive Director, Connected by Data
14:30 – 15:00 TRACK A TRACK B Cross-Border AI Compliance — What Organisations Must Prepare For
Organizations must inventory all AI exposure, implement privacy-preserving technologies (like differential privacy), and establish cross-functional governance frameworks to prevent severe financial and reputational penalties.
How to Campaign for AI Legislation: Lessons from the Field
Campaigning for AI legislation requires building broad coalitions, mobilizing grassroots support, and engaging directly with lawmakers using clear, evidence-based policy proposals. By translating complex technical risks into relatable human impacts, advocates can successfully push for responsible artificial intelligence governance.
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15:00 – 15:30
Afternoon Tea Break
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Big Topic Discussions — Day 2
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15:30 – 16:00
Defense, National Security and Dual-Use AI
Export controls on chips and frontier models, autonomous-systems governance, and the cyber/bio dual-use risks industry leaders raised at the 2026 G7 — the sovereignty question made concrete.
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16:00 – 16:30
Sovereign AI, Cross-Border Data Flows and the Next Phase of Global AI Regulation
Sovereign AI empowers nations to develop, own, and govern AI models using locally hosted infrastructure and data. Driven by stringent cross-border data restrictions, global AI regulation is increasingly fractured. Organizations must now adopt decentralized architectures to comply with localized regimes.
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Closing Plenary
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16:30 – 17:00
The Next 12-Month Governance Playbook — What Policy and Compliance Leaders Must Build Now
Lord Chris Holmes of Richmond MBE
Emmanuel Daniel
Brando Benifei MEP
Bojana Bellamy
Moderator: John Howell
*The agenda is subject to change. Content, speakers, and timing will be updated periodically. Please check back regularly for the latest updated agenda.
