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Global Policy Brief on AI and Government

A global policy brief to provide policymakers with four actionable globally-oriented policy guidance to support a trustworthy, transformative and resilient use of AI in the public administration.

Led by Prof. Catherine Régis and Prof. Florian Martin-Bariteau, the Global Policy Briefs on AI initiative is a joint endeavour of IVADO, Canada's premier AI research and knowledge mobilization consortium at Université de Montréal, and the AI + Society Initiative at the University of Ottawa to provide policymakers with rigorous, actionable policy recommendations to address major global challenges related to AI.

For the second instalment, Professors Catherine Régis and Florian Martin-Bariteau convened a group of leading AI experts from around the world to propose policy recommendations for the responsible procurement and deployment of AI systems in public administration, with the aim of ensuring that these technologies serve the public interest. They met for a week-long retreat hosted by the Società Italiana per l’Organizzazione Internazionale (SIOI) in Rome, Italy, in December 2025.

Governing with AI Brief Cover

Key Takeaways 

Artificial intelligence (AI) is not a shortcut to reforming government. Without prior institutional redesign, sufficient capacity, and clear governance, its adoption is more likely to entrench bureaucratic dysfunctions, bias, and opacity than to improve performance or fairness.

The success of AI in government is ultimately a governance challenge, not a technical one. Outcomes depend less on the technology’s sophistication than on institutional capacity, accountability mechanisms, vendor power relations, and resilience planning. 

The Global Policy Brief recommends four actions: 

  • redesign public services around real problems before deploying AI; 

  • invest in institutional capacity through training and cross-functional teams; 

  • rebalance power with vendors through collective procurement and collaboration; and 

  • anchor public-sector AI in a “trust stack” built on transparency, accountability and oversight, as well as resilience.

Read the Global Policy Brief

Soon available in other languages:
Français (French)
Português (Portuguese)
Italiano (Italian)
Deútsch (German)
한국어 (Korean)

Authors

Catherine Régis

Catherine Régis

Professor of Law, Université de Montréal; Director, social innovation and international policy, IVADO; Canada CIFAR Chair in AI and Human Rights, Mila

Florian Martin-Bariteau

Florian Martin-Bariteau

University Research Chair in Technology and Society and Associate Professor of Law, University of Ottawa; Director, AI + Society Initiative

Rachel Adams

Rachel Adams

CEO, Global Center on AI Governance; Research Professor, University of Cambridge

Brunessen Bertrand

Brunessen Bertrand

Professor of Law, Université de Rennes

Jake Okechukwu Effoduh

Jake Okechukwu Effoduh

Assistant Professor of Law, Toronto Metropolitan University

Peter Parycek

Peter Parycek

Professor of E-Governance, University for Continuing Education Krems; Head, Public IT Competence Center, Fraunhofer FOKUS

Carlos Affonso Pereira de Souza

Carlos Affonso Pereira de Souza

Professor of Law, UERJ; Director, Institute for Technology and Society of Rio de Janeiro

Hyesun (Melissa) Yoon

Hyesun (Melissa) Yoon

Professor, School of Law and Department of Artificial Intelligence, Hanyang University

The views expressed in this policy brief are solely those of the authors. The brief was prepared with the support of Halima Bachir, Antoine Congost and Réjean Roy of IVADO’s Knowledge Mobilization team. 

 

This project was undertaken thanks to the contributions of the CEIMIA, the Canada CIFAR Chair in AI and Human Rights at Mila, and the University of Ottawa Research Chair in Technology and Society, and with the support of the Délégation du Québec à Rome and the SIOI for the organization of the week-long retreat.

 

Recommended citation
Catherine Régis, Florian Martin-Bariteau, Rachel Adams, Brunessen Bertrand, Jake Okechukwu Effoduh, Peter Parycek, Carlos Affonso Pereira de Souza and Hyesun (Melissa) Yoon, Governing with AI: Four Actions to Build a Transformative and Resilient Public Administration, The Global Policy Briefs on AI, IVADO / AI + Society Initiative, University of Ottawa, 2026. DOI: https://doi.org/10.20381/s959-yx05

The Global Policy Briefs on AI

Since 2024, the Global Policy Briefs on AI aim to provide policy makers with actionable globally-oriented policy guidance to navigate key global AI challenges.