Session
Center for Technology and Society at FGV Law School, Rio de Janeiro
Luca Belli, Professor and Director, Center for Technology and Society at FGV Law School, Rio de Janeiro, Academia, Brazil Anriette Esterhuysen, Director of Policy and Strategy, APC, Civil society, South Africa Alek Tarkowski, Director of Strategy, Open Future, Civil society Poland
Melanie Dulong de Rosnay, Research Professor CIS-CNRS, academia, France Renata Avila, CEO, Open Knowledge Foundation, civil society Guatemala Syed Iftikhar, Digital Research Director, Digital Cooperation Organization, intergovernmental organization, Saudi Arabia Bianca Kremer, CGI.br Board Member, Researcher and Visiting Professor, CTS-FGV Law, academia Brazil Alek Tarkowski, Director of Strategy, Open Future, civil society, Poland Anita Gurumurthy, Director IT for Change, civil society, India
9.3
Targets: Data and AI commons are crucial for achieving SDG 9.3’s goals of enhancing access to financial services and market integration for small enterprises in developing nations. Discussion on how AI commons and data commons can bridge the gap for small enterprises, empowering them to participate in the global economy and achieve sustainable development.
Roundtable
To facilitate interaction between onsite and online speakers and attendees, we will leverage a hybrid event platform that provides real-time communication channels. For the onsite attendees, we will project the virtual attendees and their questions/comments onto the screen to ensure that both groups can engage with each other.
Since its inception in 2019, the Internet Commons Forum (ICF) has functioned as a critical forum for discourse and policy innovation in pursuit of a more decentralized and equitable digital ecosystem (see http://www.intcomforum.org/). The Internet Commons Forum 2025 will specifically engage with debating the emergent legal and institutional frameworks governing the data and AI Commons, with a primary emphasis on the regulatory and operational dimensions of data common. The concept of AI Commons is premised upon the establishment of a shared and accessible infrastructure wherein AI-related datasets, models, and methodologies are rendered available to a multiplicity of stakeholders under legally and ethically sound governance structures. This session seeks to critically evaluate existing institutional arrangements, regulatory mechanisms, and operational policies that underpin AI Commons, with a view toward fostering equitable access, innovation, and compliance with established legal norms. The discourse will be structured around four principal thematic axes. First, panelists will engage in a jurisprudential and policy-oriented analysis of the definitional contours of AI Commons, delineating its constitutive elements and examining its role in shaping contemporary AI governance. Of particular importance is the governance of data commons, wherein the accessibility, integrity, and ethical provenance of datasets are foundational to the viability of an AI Commons framework. Second, the discussion will encompass an examination of model initiatives, including open-source AI repositories, cooperative research consortia, and public-private collaborations that exemplify the principles of AI Commons. These case studies will be analyzed through a legal and institutional lens, assessing their compliance with intellectual property norms, data protection regimes, and governance structures that ensure sustainability and accountability in managing shared data commons. Third, the forum will critically assess the extent to which existing regulatory architectures and governance mechanisms facilitate or impede the institutionalization of AI Commons. While AI Commons holds the potential to enhance technological inclusivity and innovation, its realization is contingent upon the resolution of complex legal challenges, including but not limited to, data sovereignty, intellectual property rights, liability frameworks, and interoperability standards. These legal and policy dimensions—often shaped by overlapping and, at times, conflicting regulatory instruments—will be interrogated with a view to delineating pathways for harmonization and legal certainty, with a particular emphasis on the governance of data commons. Finally, the panel will deliberate on strategies to cultivate a legally and ethically robust participatory ecosystem, ensuring that diverse actors—including academia, regulatory bodies, industry stakeholders, and civil society organizations—are meaningfully engaged in the governance and operationalization of AI Commons. This segment will specifically address legal mechanisms and institutional frameworks aimed at ensuring equitable access to, and responsible stewardship of data commons recognizing that inclusivity and legal clarity are indispensable to the sustainable and ethical development of AI.
For the onsite attendees, we will project the virtual attendees and their questions/comments onto the screen to ensure that both groups can engage with each other. To participate we will use the hashtags #ICF2025 #DATAcommons and #AIcommons on social media. The session will be designed with both online and onsite participants in mind. The session will be structured with interactive segments to engage all attendees, such as Q&As and debates to cater both online and onsite participants.