Building Trusted AI at Scale Cities Startups & Digital Sovereignty – Keynote Amb Thomas Schneider
20 Feb 2026 12:00h - 13:00h
Building Trusted AI at Scale Cities Startups & Digital Sovereignty – Keynote Amb Thomas Schneider
Summary
Thomas Schneider opened the session by thanking India and the global audience for hosting the AI Impact Summit in Delhi, emphasizing the event’s significance for worldwide AI governance [1-2]. He noted that Switzerland backs the summit’s focus on the three sutras-people, progress, and planet, and stresses that AI should be developed for the benefit of all [3-4]. Schneider reiterated that AI must promote economic and social progress while respecting human dignity, autonomy and the planet [5-6]. He announced that Switzerland will host the next AI Summit in Geneva in 2027 and expressed enthusiasm about the strong interest from Swiss and international stakeholders [8-10]. According to him, the Swiss motivation is not to stage a show but to meaningfully help humanity harness AI’s transformative potential for good, not harm [12-14]. He invited participants to share ideas and emphasized that the agenda for the Geneva summit will be co-created with all parties, though it will retain a distinct Swiss perspective [15-18]. Schneider pledged to build on existing governance mechanisms such as the UN Internet Governance Forum, AI for Good Summit, ITU-UNESCO forums, OECD and other regional bodies, avoiding duplication of effort [20-22]. He also highlighted collaboration with the Diplo Foundation and the Geneva Internet Platform to help less-resourced communities navigate the complex AI governance ecosystem [23]. Recognising AI’s breadth, he argued that no single institution can address all challenges, and that governance will have to accommodate complexity [24-27]. He drew a parallel with the two-century evolution of engine regulation, noting that societies have created thousands of technical, legal and societal norms to govern physical machines [28-38]. Switzerland has already begun work on new technical standards, binding and non-binding legal instruments, and highlighted the Vilnius Convention on AI, Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law as a principle-based framework for all countries [42-49]. Nevertheless, he warned that additional sector-specific norms will be needed to ensure coherence and complement the Convention [52-53]. Finally, Schneider positioned Switzerland as a facilitator that will foster open, respectful dialogue and pragmatic cooperation to ensure AI contributes to peace, prosperity and dignity worldwide, looking forward to the 2027 Geneva summit [55-58].
Keypoints
Major discussion points
– Inclusive, human-centric vision for AI – The speaker stresses that AI must be developed “so that everyone in the world can benefit” while respecting human dignity, autonomy and the planet [4-6][14].
– Switzerland’s role as facilitator for the 2027 Geneva AI Summit – Switzerland will host the next summit, build on existing platforms (UN-IGF, AI for Good, OECD, etc.), and act as a bridge-builder for all stakeholders, especially less-resourced communities [8-10][20-23][55-56].
– Building on and expanding existing governance instruments – Ongoing work on technical, legal and societal norms is highlighted, with special reference to the Vilnius Convention on AI, Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law as a “principle-based framework” that can be adapted globally [41-49][50-52].
– Historical analogy to engine/combustion governance – The speaker draws a parallel between past regulation of physical-engine technologies and the need for a layered, context-specific AI governance ecosystem, noting that no single institution can cover all aspects [27-34][38-41].
– Call for pragmatic, collaborative action and gap-filling – The remarks urge participants to identify shared priorities, avoid reinventing existing mechanisms, and work together on binding and non-binding norms that are coherent and interoperable [20-24][53-55].
Overall purpose / goal of the discussion
Thomas Schneider’s address is a diplomatic invitation and roadmap: Switzerland is positioning itself as a neutral convenor for the next global AI governance summit (Geneva 2027), outlining the principles that should guide AI development, summarising the work already underway (technical standards, legal instruments, the Vilnius Convention), and soliciting ideas from the international community to shape a collaborative, multi-stakeholder agenda that fills current governance gaps.
Overall tone
The tone is consistently courteous, optimistic and constructive. It begins with gratitude and a celebratory note [1-3], moves into a principled, inclusive framing of AI’s purpose [4-6], shifts to a pragmatic description of Switzerland’s facilitative role and existing ecosystem [20-23], becomes more concrete when presenting specific governance tools (the Vilnius Convention) [46-52], and concludes with an earnest, forward-looking call for partnership [55-58]. The tone remains steady throughout, with only a slight increase in specificity and urgency when discussing concrete instruments and next steps.
Speakers
– Thomas Schneider
– Areas of expertise: AI governance, international technology policy, human rights, democracy, rule of law, digital infrastructure.
– Roles and titles: Former Chair of ICANN’s Governmental Advisory Committee (2014-2017) [S1]; Lead negotiator of the Vilnius Convention on Artificial Intelligence, Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law; Representative of Switzerland at the AI Impact Summit and member of the Swiss Summit team.
Additional speakers:
– (none)
Thomas Schneider opened the session by thanking India and the worldwide audience for hosting the AI Impact Summit in Delhi, describing the gathering as a “pivotal moment for global AI governance” and expressing appreciation for the diverse group of leaders, innovators, researchers and civil-society representatives that had been assembled [1-2]. He noted that Switzerland fully supports the summit’s focus on the three sutras-people, progress, and planet-and affirmed the shared ambition that artificial intelligence be developed and deployed so that “everyone in the world can benefit” [3-4].
Schneider then articulated an inclusive, human-centred vision for AI, insisting that the technology must promote both economic and social progress while safeguarding human dignity, autonomy and the planet, which he described as “the basis for all life” and added that, at least so far, “we haven’t found other life elsewhere” [5-6]. He warned that AI’s transformative power is comparable to historic breakthroughs such as the printing press, radio, television, the internet and the combustion engine, and stressed that this power must be used to raise, not lower, the quality of life for all peoples [13-14].
Switzerland’s role as host of the next AI Impact Summit in Geneva in 2027 was announced, with Schneider stressing that the purpose is not to stage a “show” but to make a substantive contribution to ensuring AI is used for good, not for harm [12-14]. He also clarified that the AI Impact Summit has previously been held in the United Kingdom, Korea, Paris and Delhi, with a future summit planned for Japan [30-33].
Inviting participants to submit their ideas, Schneider emphasized that the agenda for the Geneva summit will be co-created with all stakeholders while retaining a distinct “Swiss flavour” rooted in constructive, creative, innovative and pragmatic problem-solving [15-18]. He pledged that the summit will build on existing multistakeholder platforms-the UN Internet Governance Forum, the AI for Good Summit, the Global Forum on Ethics of AI, the OECD, the Global Partnership on AI (GPI) and other regional bodies-rather than duplicating processes that already work [20-25][34].
To ensure that less-resourced communities are not left behind, Schneider announced collaboration with the Diplo Foundation and the Geneva Internet Platform, which will help these groups navigate the complex AI-governance ecosystem, raise their voices and gain access to relevant information [23].
Acknowledging the breadth and context-specificity of AI, he argued that no single institution or instrument can capture the whole transformation, and that the community must learn to “live with a certain complexity” of governance [24-27]. He drew a historical parallel with the regulation of combustion engines over the past two centuries, describing how societies have developed thousands of technical, legal and societal norms-from highly harmonised safety standards for aircraft to more varied regulations for automobiles-to govern physical machines [28-41].
Switzerland has already begun to address AI governance gaps by analysing existing frameworks, drafting technical standards, and developing both binding and non-binding legal instruments [42-46]. Schneider highlighted the Vilnius Convention on Artificial Intelligence, Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law, which he helped negotiate with 55 countries. The Convention provides a principle-based, flexible framework that can be embedded in diverse national legal traditions, allowing for interoperable but not identical implementations [46-49]. He added that, while the Convention is expected to enter into force soon, additional sector-specific norms-both binding and non-binding-will be needed to ensure coherence across the governance landscape [50-52].
The period leading up to the Geneva summit will be used to identify remaining gaps in global and regional AI governance, to engage all countries and stakeholders in shaping a shared vision, and to develop pragmatic, workable steps that balance innovation with the mitigation of legitimate risks [53-55]. Switzerland will act as a facilitator, building bridges and fostering an open, respectful dialogue that offers “pragmatic structures for trustworthy cooperation” so that AI can contribute to peace, prosperity, security, and dignity worldwide [56-58][58-59].
In closing, Schneider reiterated the centrality of dignity, thanked the audience for their support and attention, and expressed anticipation of collaborative work in the coming months and of meeting participants in Geneva in 2027 [59].
So, dear friends and colleagues from India and from all around the world, it is an honor and pleasure to be here with you in Delhi at this pivotal moment for global AI governance. And first, of course, I want to express my gratitude to the government of India for bringing together a diverse and distinguished group of leaders, innovators, researchers, civil society representatives from all around the world. Switzerland very much welcomes and supports the focus of the AI Impact Summit, which is well presented in the three sutras, people, progress, planet, as we all have learned in the past weeks and months. And we fully agree that we need to develop and use AI in a way that everyone in the world can benefit from the potential that AI offers.
This includes economic and societal social progress for everyone. At the same time, of course, we need to make sure that we are able to develop and use AI in a way that everyone in the world can benefit from the that we respect human dignity and autonomy, as well as our planet, which is the basis for all life that we know, at least so far. We haven’t found other life elsewhere. So we are honored and very proud to be hosting the next AI Summit in Geneva in 2027. It is overwhelming to see already now and feel the momentum and the enthusiasm that we sense on national level among all Swiss stakeholders, as well as the very positive reactions from our partners from all around the world, who are all eager and willing to cooperate with us and contribute to the summit in Geneva.
Already now, we are approached by many governmental and other stakeholders that share their ideas with us about what the Geneva Summit and the road leading up to it should focus on and what it should achieve. And let me assure you that this is very welcome and helpful to us. The Swiss motivation for organizing the next summit is to, not to make a show, it is to substantially and meaningfully contribute to achieving the goal that mankind and the world want to achieve. it is to substantially and meaningfully contribute to achieving the goal that mankind uses the unprecedented potential of AI to achieve the goal that mankind uses for good and not for bad. This potential of AI, which may be at least as transformative as the invention of the printing press, radio, television and the internet, as well as the invention of the combustion and other engines together, this potential must be used to raise and not lower the quality of life of all people in the world and not just a few.
AI must strengthen and not weaken the dignity and autonomy of all people in the global north, south, east and west or whatever we call the region where we live and help us all to live together in peace and prosperity. So we are very keen to hear your ideas about what we could and should do together to achieve this goal. Of course, we do have some ideas on our own, but we have not decided yet about the focus of the Geneva Summit. We will discuss it with you together, shape it together. Of course, there will be a Swiss flavor to the Geneva Summit, which is based on the way we work and what we understand, our role in the international community.
We will try to be constructive. Thank you. creative and innovative and try to find pragmatic and fair solutions through bringing together all stakeholders in their respective roles and with their respective experience and at the same time we will try not to reinvent the wheel and duplicate processes and instruments that already exist and that work but rather we will try to build on them because we do already have a number of dialogue platforms for AI governance and for sharing good practices such as the UN Internet Governance Forum and its national and regional initiatives, the AI for Good Summit and the Global Forum on Ethics of AI organized by ITU, UNESCO and many other UN related processes and forum.
We have other forum like the OECD, GPI and other international and regional organizations and of course we will build on the outcomes of the previous summit in the UK, Korea, Japan, sorry Paris, Japan will follow at some point in time, UK, Korea, Paris and of course here in Delhi and we should not forget There are many academic and other networks that provide expertise and solutions. So we will do our best to bring them all together. And with the help of our longstanding partners from the Diplo Foundation and the Geneva Internet Platform, we will also try to facilitate the orientation in this complex governance ecosystem, in particular for less resourced communities, so that also they know better about what is going on where and where we need to raise our voice so that they are actually heard.
At the same time, we consider the transformative power of AI to be too big, broad and context -specific so that no one single institution and no single instrument will allow us to seize all opportunities and will solve all problems. So we will have to learn to live with a certain complexity of the governance of this transformation. But also, this is not a completely new situation. If we look at how we have governed the transformative power of combustion and other engines in the past 200 years, there are some lessons that we can also apply to AI. While today we are developing AI to automate cognitive labor, we have developed engines to automate physical labor. We have put engines in vehicles or machines to move goods or people from one place to another.
And we have put engines in machines to produce food or other goods automatically. And we do not expect one single institution or instrument to govern all of this. But we have developed a set of thousands of technical, legal, and also non -written societal norms that guide us in the use of these machines. We have regulated also the infrastructure that these machines use. We are setting requirements and liabilities for the people that develop, handle, and steer these machines. And we have developed instruments to protect people that are affected by the impact of these machines. And we are seeing different levels of harmonizations when it comes to regulating machines and engines. As an example, of course, we know that the airline industry is much more harmonized because it’s global than the way we regulate cars.
Cars driving in our streets on one side or the other side, where there’s more diversity possible. So after 200 years, we are still continuing to adapt the governance framework for engine driven machines, depending on the context of use. And we need to do exactly the same with AI. We need to develop appropriate technical, legal and societal frameworks and norms that allow us to develop and use AI for good in many different ways. And this work has already begun. We have analyzed our existing governance frameworks, have started to identify and fill the gaps. We have started to work on technical norms for AI systems. We have started to work on binding and non -binding legal instruments. And of course, in this regard, I’d like to particularly highlight the Vilnius Convention on Artificial Intelligence, Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law, for which I had the honor to lead the negotiations among 55 countries from all over the world at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg.
This provides for a principle based framework, not just for Europe, but for all countries. It provides for a principle based framework, not just for Europe, but for all countries on our planet that value human rights, democracy and the rule of law. so that our societies and economies can use AI to innovate, while at the same time we uphold our respect to human dignity and autonomy, also in the context of AI. The principles set out by the Vilnius Convention are simple and clear, but the Convention leaves enough leeway to participating states in order to allow to embed these principles in their existing legal and regulatory institutions and traditions. This will allow many countries to become parties to this global convention and to make sure that their governance frameworks may, although not become identical, but at least interoperable.
This Convention, which we hope will be ratified and enter into force very soon, will become one important instrument to make sure that AI is used for the good and not the bad. But of course, there will have to be many more binding and non -binding norms and more sector -specific norms and instruments to complement it, which hopefully will be… at least coherent in their logic and spirit. So we will use the time until the Geneva Summit next year to continue to identify gaps in global and regional governance of AI and achieve our shared objectives so that AI is used for innovation, while at the same time legitimate concerns and risks are appropriately addressed. Switzerland will be the host of the next summit, but we know that we will not be able to achieve anything on our own.
So we look forward to collaborating with all of you, with all countries and all stakeholders from the global north, south, east and west, and we will first try to identify areas where there’s a willingness and a shared vision to make progress together and then work with all of you on pragmatic and workable steps towards this vision. We will only be the facilitators trying to build bridges and build a climate of open and respectful and constructive dialogue, trying to offer pragmatic structures for trustworthy cooperation so that we can all use the potential AI, to say it again, to live together in peace, prosperity and security. Dignity. Dignity. The Swiss Summit team and I personally are looking forward to collaborating with all of you in the coming months, and we look forward to seeing you all in Geneva in 2027.
Thank you for your support and attention.
“Thomas Schneider is a Swiss government official or diplomat representing Switzerland in AI governance discussions.”
The knowledge base identifies Thomas Schneider as a Swiss government official/diplomat who leads negotiations among many countries, confirming his representative role for Switzerland.
“The summit’s focus on three sutras—people, progress, and planet—is a guiding principle.”
The three guiding principles called sutras—people, progress, planet—are explicitly listed in the knowledge base as the summit’s guiding principles.
“The summit emphasizes a human‑centred approach that respects human dignity and autonomy.”
Keynote materials stress that technology must serve humanity, respect human dignity, and keep humans at the centre, aligning with the reported human‑centred vision.
“AI’s transformative power is comparable to historic breakthroughs such as the printing press, radio, television, the internet and the combustion engine.”
Analyses of prior sessions note similar comparisons of AI to historic technologies like the printing press, radio, television and the internet, providing contextual support for this analogy.
“The summit will build on existing multistakeholder platforms such as the UN Internet Governance Forum.”
The IGF is cited in the knowledge base as a successful multistakeholder platform for internet and AI governance, confirming its relevance to the summit’s collaborative approach.
The transcript shows strong internal consensus around an inclusive, human‑rights‑based AI vision, collaborative summit design, leveraging existing multistakeholder platforms, and a layered, principle‑based regulatory approach anchored by the Vilnius Convention.
High consensus among the speaker’s statements, indicating a clear, unified direction for the upcoming Geneva AI Summit and broader global AI governance efforts.
The transcript contains remarks only from Thomas Schneider; no other speakers are recorded, and therefore no contrasting positions or debates are observable. All statements reflect a single, coherent set of arguments about inclusive AI governance, collaborative summit design, leveraging existing platforms, and the Vilnius Convention. Consequently, there is no demonstrable disagreement among participants in this excerpt.
None – the absence of multiple speakers means no conflict of viewpoints, implying a unified stance on the discussed AI governance agenda.
Thomas Schneider’s remarks collectively transformed a ceremonial opening into a strategic roadmap. By framing AI as a historic, transformative force, he elevated the stakes of the dialogue. His insistence on multilateral collaboration, building on existing platforms, and acknowledging governance complexity redirected the conversation from abstract aspirations to concrete, inclusive, and layered approaches. The introduction of the Vilnius Convention served as a tangible anchor, moving participants toward policy‑focused deliberations. Together, these pivotal comments shaped the discussion’s trajectory, fostering a shift from unilateral ambition to a shared, pragmatic, and globally representative governance agenda.
Disclaimer: This is not an official session record. DiploAI generates these resources from audiovisual recordings, and they are presented as-is, including potential errors. Due to logistical challenges, such as discrepancies in audio/video or transcripts, names may be misspelled. We strive for accuracy to the best of our ability.
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