The Global Code: Dr. Mark Robinson’s Call for an International AI Agency

On the RegulatingAI Podcast, Dr. Mark Robinson calls for a UN-led International AI Agency — a global pact to govern AI before it outpaces humanity.

WASHINGTON DC, DC, UNITED STATES, November 3, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- When Sanjay Puri opens the RegulatingAI podcast, the mood feels different — heavier, more urgent. His guest, Dr. Mark Robinson, is not talking about algorithms or innovation. He’s talking about survival — of institutions, of trust, and perhaps of humanity itself.

A veteran of some of the world’s most complex international collaborations — from the ITER fusion project to the European Southern Observatory — Robinson has seen what it takes to make rivals cooperate. Now, he wants the world to apply that same model to artificial intelligence.

“No single country, however powerful, can govern AI alone. Necessity, not goodwill, drives collaboration — and that necessity has arrived.”

Robinson’s recent paper, published under the Oxford Martin AI Governance Initiative, calls for the creation of a United Nations–backed International AI Agency (IAIA) — a body modeled on the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Like nuclear power in the 1950s, he argues, AI has reached a point where its global impact outpaces the systems meant to control it.

He draws vivid parallels: the Cold War-era cooperation between Washington and Moscow on fusion energy, the birth of the IAEA under the “Atoms for Peace” framework, and the necessity that forced bitter rivals to share data for the common good. “Back then,” he reminds, “the U.S. and the Soviet Union signed a treaty on nuclear collaboration. People called it impossible — until it wasn’t.”

For Robinson, the same “impossible” collaboration must now happen between the U.S. and China — the world’s two AI superpowers. “I believe they will sign a bilateral agreement on AI,” he predicts. “Because they’ll have to. The alternative is chaos.”

His tone remains pragmatic even as he speaks of existential risk. AI, he warns, is “a wild west where sheriffs are still being appointed,” a domain where tech companies set the rules faster than governments can read them.

“The winners right now are the tech giants — not the people,” he says. “If we do nothing, we’ll end up in a world where regulation is optional and inequality becomes structural.”

Robinson envisions an agency that unites governments, industry, and the global South, giving each a stake in shaping the rules. The goal isn’t to stifle innovation but to ensure that power — and accountability — are shared. “We’ve always found ways to control the forces we unleash,” he reflects. “We did it with nuclear weapons, with pandemics, with space. We’ll do it with AI too — if we’re wise enough to start now.”

The proposal is bold, even idealistic — but rooted in decades of lessons from science diplomacy. His conviction is unshakable: “It’s not a question of if there will be an international AI agency,” he tells Sanjay. “It’s when. The danger is waiting for a catastrophe to prove we need one.”

As the episode closes, Sanjay’s words echo the urgency that frames the entire conversation: “The window for shaping global AI governance is open — but it won’t remain so indefinitely.”

And in that moment, Regulating AI once again lives up to its name — not just as a podcast, but as a platform shaping the moral architecture of our digital future.

Upasana Das
Knowledge Networks
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Why the World Needs a UN AI Agency with Dr. Mark Robinson | RegulatingAI Podcast

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