A few days ago I came across an article from SciDev.Net, published on 13 February 2009 by journalist Katherine Nightingale, titled “Rural Internet, not online but still connected.” I’m quoted in it as Geekcorps’ Mali country director, a period of my professional life that goes back to my years setting up ICT access projects in West Africa.
On 14 July 2026, I spoke on behalf of ITU during Panel 8, “The Rights of Indigenous Peoples and Artificial Intelligence,” at the 19th session of the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP), in the Assembly Hall of the Palais des Nations in Geneva. The panel brought together Indigenous representatives from the Arctic, North America, and Eastern Europe/Russian Federation/Central Asia, alongside representatives of Australia and the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions. The full session is archived on UN Web TV.
From left to right: Olivier Alais (ITU), Wafa Ben Hassine (OHCHR), Boris Inderbitzin (IEC), Cindy Parokkil (ISO), and Daniel Pap (Council of Europe), on the Solutions Stage of the AI for Good Global Summit, 10 July 2026
On 10 July 2026, I joined a panel on the Solutions Stage of the AI for Good Global Summit in Geneva, titled “From Human Rights Principles to ICT and AI Standards: Perspectives from IEC, ISO and ITU.” The session brought together the three organizations behind the 2025 Seoul Statement, alongside the Council of Europe and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), to talk about how international standards bodies are actually putting human rights commitments into effect.
World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Forum 2026
6 to 10 July 2026 in Geneva, Switzerland
©ITU/Pierre Albouy
The politics of knowledge in the AI age: moderating a panel at WSIS Forum 2026
On 9 July 2026, I had the pleasure of moderating a session at WSIS Forum 2026, in Room E at Palexpo, titled “The Politics of Knowledge in the AI Age: Empowering Human Agency through Standards, Human Rights, and the Role of Corporations,” co-organized by ITU, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), and the Harvard Kennedy School Carr-Ryan Center. The session was public and recorded; the full webcast is available here.
The main building of Humboldt University Berlin, where the seminar took place, 15-16 June 2026
On 15 and 16 June 2026, I took part in “Standard-Takers and Standard-Makers: Global Practices and Politics in the Age of AI,” a workshop hosted by Humboldt University Berlin bringing together researchers, standards bodies, and policy practitioners to examine technical standardization as a strategic arena, not a purely technical one. The workshop materials are available here.
On 27 May 2026, I spoke at NetGouv26, the third annual conference of the Working Group on Internet Governance and Regulation (CNRS Research Network 2091 on Internet, AI and Society), held at the Maison de la recherche of Sorbonne Nouvelle in Paris and online, in partnership with AFNIC, Sorbonne Nouvelle’s Irméccen, and Internet Society France, with support from the Internet Society Foundation. The conference gathers the francophone research community working on Internet governance across disciplines: STS, communication studies, law, political science, computer science, geopolitics, design, and economics.
On 26 May 2026, in Haikou, I had the opportunity to speak on behalf of ITU in the opening panel of the 47th COPOLCO Plenary, ISO’s policy committee on consumer issues, this year devoted to “Digital Consumer Rights.” I shared the stage with Erin Parsons (Consumers International), Rémi Lang (UNCTAD), Dr Thang Luong (ASEAN Secretariat), Michel Oliveira de Souza (OHCHR), and Laura Lindsay (Chair-Elect, ISO/IEC JTC 1).
On 14 April 2026, I took part in the Seminar on Human Rights and ICT Standardisation, organized by the European Commission, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), and ITU, with support from the EU funded StandICT.eu 2029, INSTAR, and InDiCo-Global projects. The event, held in Brussels and online, brought together more than 190 registrants and around 100 live participants from standards bodies, industry, academia, civil society, and the human rights community.
(Originally published on the Harvard Kennedy School website)
On February 26, 2026, the CEO of one of the world’s most powerful AI companies published an open letter refusing a government ultimatum. The Department of War had threatened to designate Anthropic a “supply chain risk”, a label reserved for U.S. adversaries, never before applied to an American company, and to invoke the Defense Production Act to compel the removal of two safeguards: prohibitions on mass domestic surveillance and fully autonomous weapons. Dario Amodei refused. Within 24 hours, the Pentagon followed through, blacklisting Anthropic as a national security risk and ordering all military contractors to immediately cease commercial activity with the company. Anthropic said it would fight the designation in court.
(Originally published on the Harvard Kennedy School website)
Data is not an abstract resource; it is an extension of who we are.
On December 10, 1948, the international community adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 12 is unequivocal: “No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy”. Nearly eighty years later, that promise feels increasingly hollow.
In the physical world, the boundaries of privacy are clear and widely accepted. We do not take our neighbor’s car without permission. We do not enter their home, sleep in their bed, or rummage through their drawers in their absence. If we do, the law intervenes. Privacy is understood as a basic condition of dignity and freedom.
So why have we failed to apply these same principles to the digital world?
