AI AGE Updates

IFES Participates in AI Impact Summit in New Delhi

IFES was busy at the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, the first such summit held in the global South. We solicited feedback on our forthcoming AI AGE Strategic Playbook on AI and elections, and participated in the first stakeholder consultation with the UN AI Global Dialogue Co-Chairs, arguing that elections highlight both the best and worst aspects of AI, and should therefore be elevated as a workstream under the upcoming AI Global Dialogue in Geneva.

IFES Hosts Two Day AI AGE Workshop in Partnership with TCC and GeorgiaTech

In December 2025, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems' (IFES) AI Advisory Group on Elections was graciously hosted by The Carter Center in Atlanta for a workshop on AI in election administration.

The convening brought together election commissions, technologists, civil society leaders, policymakers, private sector representatives, and academics from four continents—a rare and necessary cross-section of actors shaping how AI intersects with democratic processes worldwide.

A central outcome of this multistakeholder effort is the development of a Strategic Playbook for electoral officials: practical, actionable guidance to help Election Management Bodies make informed and responsible decisions about AI. The Playbook - scheduled for publication in early 2026 - will focus on ensuring that AI adoption strengthens electoral integrity and its core pillars—trust, accuracy, transparency, accountability, and respect for human rights.

As AI AGE member Katie Shay Perault aptly notes: “The challenge is not whether AI will be used in elections, but for what purposes, under what safeguards, and with what accountability.”

IFES thanks The Carter Center and Georgia Institute of Technology for their tremendous partnership, and to all participants who contributed their time, insight, and commitment

IFES's Lisa Poggiali Reviews Controversial New AI Book

IFES's Dr. Lisa Poggiali reviews If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies: Why Superhuman AI Would Kill Us All, by Eliezer Yudkowsky & Nate Soares, in the September 18 issue of Science, the leading multidisciplinary, international journal of peer-reviewed research. Poggiali questions Yudkowsky's and Soare's alarmist predictions about the inevitability of human extinction at the hands of rogue AI, and suggests that global policymakers should instead prioritize creating guardrails to address the multitude of empirically verified AI-generated harms and risks we are facing right now.

Link to Article

Locally Developed AI: Building the Future of Democratic Electoral Innovation

Learn more about Trustcon

AI AGE Op-ed: Solidarity, Not Speed, for AI Governance

Dr. Lisa Poggiali, IFES’ Global Digital Democracy Advisor, penned an op-ed for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace on the power of cross-regional and cross-sectoral solidarity for driving a democratic global AI ecosystem.

Read it here

AI AGE in the News

As AI AGE officially kicks off, the group is receiving media attention from around the world. See below for key media mentions to date:

• “Taiwan named founding member of global AI election advisory group”, Focus Taiwan (Taiwan)
• “Yiaga Director, Itodo, 15 others join Global AI Advisory Group on Elections”, Premium Times (Nigeria)
• “Samson Itodo appointed into AI advisory group on elections”, The Cable (Nigeria)
• “CEC joins global AI election advisory group pioneers”, Taipei Times (Taiwan)
• “Samson Itodo Appointed to Global AI Advisory Group on Elections”, Gatekeepers News (Nigeria)

Announcing the founding AI AGE members

On June 12, 2025, IFES officially launched the AI Advisory Group on Elections (AI AGE) at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington D.C. AI AGE is a first-of-its-kind global coalition linking election authorities and AI experts to safeguard democracy. “We all recognize that AI holds immense potential. But it also presents profound challenges: deepfakes, echo chambers, and precision persuasion attacks that can undermine public trust and fuel polarization,” said Taiwan’s Cyber Ambassador, Audrey Tang, an AI AGE member. “Rest assured, no democracy is an island, not even Taiwan.”

At the launch, the founding cohort of AI AGE members were announced, including a diverse group of experts in AI and in elections.

Learn more about the AI AGE members.

Stream the AI AGE launch event!

June 12, 2025: IFES was hosted by Carnegie’s Technology and International Affairs Program to launch AI AGE. Watch for more information on the initiative and a discussion of critical issues at the intersection of AI and elections, including biometric identification, data governance, content provenance, and information integrity.

Featured speakers and panelists include:

• Jon Bateman, Senior Fellow and Co-Director, Technology and International Affairs Program
• Anthony Banbury, President and CEO, International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES)
• Sabhanaz Diya, Executive Director, Tech Global Institute
• Lisa Poggiali, Global Digital Democracy Advisor, International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES)
• Nanjira Sambuli, Nonresident Scholar, Technology and International Affairs
• Miranda Bogen, Founding Director, AI Governance Lab, Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT)
• Audrey Tang, Cyber Ambassador, Government of Taiwan
• Katie Shay, Principal, Open Water Strategies

Launch of IFES' AI AGE: The Artificial Intelligence Advisory Group on Elections - June 12, 2025, 10:00am EDT

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly becoming more powerful and influential, while, at the same time, democracy is under attack globally. Electoral authorities and AI experts – two groups crucial to restoring democracy worldwide - are largely working in siloes. Join the Carnegie Endowment’s Technology and International Affairs Program and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems for the launch of the AI AGE initiative and a discussion of critical issues at the intersection of AI and elections, including biometric identification, data governance, content provenance, and information integrity.

Learn more and watch