About Us
Independent evidence and collective advocacy on AI safety,
from the Global South.
About the Network
The Global South Network for Trustworthy AI is a civil society-led platform focused on advancing AI safety and evaluation in real-world contexts across the Global South.
The Network examines how AI systems perform in practice — across languages, sectors, and deployment settings where the risks and failures of AI are least understood. By bringing together research, policy, and implementation expertise, it generates the evidence, methods, and shared approaches needed to make AI safety reflect the contexts where AI is used most widely.
The Challenge
No local safety foundation
Responsible AI deployment in the Global South is constrained by the absence of rigorous, locally grounded safety research — compounded by limited institutional capacity, funding, and technical expertise.
A safety agenda set elsewhere
AI safety standards and benchmarks are largely shaped in the Global North, with limited input from the communities and institutions most affected by how AI is deployed.
Fragmentation of global AI governance
The international AI governance landscape is increasingly fragmented, with declining coordination across countries and institutions — leaving lower-capacity Global South countries most exposed.
A fragmented field
Across the Global South, important AI safety work is happening — but in isolation. Without shared infrastructure, methods, or sustained collaboration, the field remains dispersed and under-resourced relative to its scale.
Why a Network
Cross-disciplinary, locally grounded expertise
The Network brings together technical, policy, and implementation expertise alongside deep, localised knowledge of how AI systems interact with institutions, vulnerabilities, and patterns of exclusion across the Global South.
Collective intelligence
By comparing findings across multiple deployment contexts, the Network can identify structural safety risks — recurring failures, shared vulnerabilities — that are difficult to see within any single study or setting.
Field building
The Network supports the development of durable infrastructure for AI safety in the Global South — shared norms, methods, talent, and institutional relationships — that no single organisation or short-term project can sustain on its own.
A collective voice in global governance
Global South organisations are often consulted in international AI safety processes individually. The Network provides a coordinated, sustained presence, enabling collective input into the forums where global rules are being shaped.
Our Members
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Steering Committee
The Secretariat
Knowledge Partners
Network Composition
As of February 2026, the Network comprises the following organisations. We welcome new partners to join the network.
Network Members
The Network’s membership comprises research institutions and civil society organisations engaged in advancing trustworthy AI in the Global South. The Members contribute to the Network’s core mandates, including research, evaluation, capacity-building, and policy advocacy.
1. Digital Futures Lab (Founding Member)
2. Global Centre on AI Governance (Founding Member)
3. ITS Rio (Founding Member)
4. CeRAI (Founding Member)
5. International Innovation Corps (Founding Member)
6. Derechos Digitales, Chile
7. GxD Hub, India (an initiative of LEAD at Krea University (IFMR))
8. Karya, India
9. Khazanah Research Institute, Malaysia
10. Masakhane African Languages Hub
11. The Collective Intelligence Project
12. UCT AI Initiative, South Africa
Steering Committee
The Network’s Steering Committee is its main body responsible for providing strategic direction and oversight. It has the authority to make decisions on behalf of the Network, informed by inputs from Network members.
1. Digital Futures Lab (Founding Member)
2. Global Centre on AI Governance (Founding Member)
3. ITS Rio (Founding Member)
4. The Collective Intelligence Project
5. The IndiaAI Mission
External Collaborators
The Network’s External Collaborators include government institutions, industry actors, and adjacent ecosystem partners that engage with the Network to inform and support its research, evaluation, and knowledge-building efforts.
1. IndiaAI Mission
2. AI Research Lab (Cognizant)
3. AI Commons
