The 2025 BRICS Summit, where leaders from Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, and more, gathered to coordinate their actions in various areas. However, their conversations in the global governance of AI shared a common thought: it’s time for the Global South to have a seat at the AI governance table. 

What is the BRICS 2025 Summit?

BRICS, founded in 2009, is composed of five original member states: Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, and Egypt, as well as additional states that joined after the formation of the organization: Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates.

The 17th BRICS Summit, or BRICS 2025, took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on July 6, 2025. This year’s summit didn’t just focus on economics or geopolitics like past years, instead it took direct aim at the growing Western monopoly on AI standards and ethics. Currently, there are growing tensions about who sets the AI norms: the West, or the emerging powers. This pressure is exactly why this year’s collective AI agenda matters more than ever.

Current State of AI Governance

The Global AI governance landscape is currently dominated by Western frameworks that model off Western priorities and values, failing to account for countries seeking to develop their AI. The EU AI Act is the first comprehensive legal framework on AI worldwide, setting a risk-based regulatory approach that categorizes AI into three risk levels: unacceptable risk, high risk, and limited risk. The EU AI Act is set to become the global benchmark for trustworthy AI, which would effectively position European standards as the default international framework, standardizing European desires. However, this approach extends beyond just Europe; the United States has created its own governance mechanisms through executive orders and regulatory guidance, hoping to shape the governance of AI in their own way. 

The issue lies not just at exclusion, but rather fundamental differences in approach; for example, current Western frameworks focus heavily on restricting AI development through compliance requirements and risk assessments, which is incredibly cumbersome for developing countries seeking to leverage AI for rapid economic development and poverty reduction.

BRICS Counter-Vision

The 2025 Rio Summit marked many global shifts in the AI governance landscape. For example, The Chair’s Statement emphasized the need for a UN-led framework that specifically addresses Global South priorities, showing a fundamental shift from Western-led initiatives. The countries recognized the need for global governance of AI with the UN at its core, focusing on a multilateral proposal that would give developing countries equal say. “By adopting the Declaration on Artificial Intelligence Governance, BRICS is sending a clear and unequivocal message: new technologies must operate within a fair, inclusive, and equitable governance framework,” stated Brazilian President Lula.

The BRICS vision for global AI governance centers on three key principles:

BRICS countries advocate for national control over AI development and deployment, hoping to make certain that AI governance respects each country’s sovereignty equally. This is unlike Western frameworks that emphasize cross-border data flows over digital sovereignty. Additionally, the BRICS approach involves incorporating a development-first mindset into their framework, prioritizing countries that have a lower level of AI development. Unlike Western AI governance which focuses on risk mitigation and individual rights, BRICS also plans on using AI to address poverty, infrastructure gaps, and economic inequality, treating AI as a tool for accelerated development. Lastly, the BRICS framework explicitly calls for AI governance that reflects diverse cultural values, challenging universal Western frameworks for AI development globally.

Global Impact and Future Scenarios

The rise of BRICS AI governance into an existing AI governance landscape could have significant fragmentation and consequences. For example, the BRICS alternative creates a bifurcated global AI governance system where developing countries may have to choose between Western-governed frameworks and BRICS frameworks, possibly leading to a fracture in the cohesion of AI governance. Countries that are focusing on rapid economic development may favor BRICS standards over Western frameworks that prioritize risk mitigation. 

Furthermore, countries in Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia may increasingly adopt BRICS-aligned standards in favor of AI development in these areas. Due to this, there is a potential to add a Global South AI governance bloc that extends beyond just BRICS membership. The success or failure of BRICS AI governance will likely determine whether the future of AI development follows a multipolar model, or eventually converges around a mutual approach.