This timely and ambitious volume examines one of the defining challenges of our era: how to ensure that AI serves humanity while also ensuring safety, justice, and democratic values. Bringing together voices across disciplines, the volume moves beyond narrow technical or purely legal debates. It situates AI within the political and sociotechnical systems in which it operates. These systems are shaped by markets, political institutions, cultural norms and prejudices, as well as global power dynamics and the policy preferences that accompany them. Rather than offering easy answers, the volume directly engages with questions. These questions are the difficult trade-offs that policymakers, technologists, and civil society actors must confront. They are the tensions between efficiency and equity, security and civil liberties, and between competitiveness and accountability. In doing so, this volume makes a significant contribution to the ongoing debate about governance in an era of rapid technological transformation. This volume is essential reading for scholars, practitioners, and engaged citizens seeking to navigate the complexities of artificial intelligence. At a moment when society is still learning how to shape AI’s trajectory, this volume offers the tools to shape the conversation.

Tammy Mackenzie is the director of the Aula Fellowship. Having come from a career as an accountant, then entrepreneur in industrial robotics, she holds an MBA in sustainability and tech innovation. She is a lifelong civil society advocate for human and ecosystem rights, and an early-career scholar of institutional and societal change. She is an alumna of McGill University, Université Laval, the Mila Summer School program, and a former guest researcher with the Norwegian University of Science and Technology's interdisciplinary center for the study of digital culture (DigiKULT). She considers her principal career achievements to be those that grow people’s hope and courage, usually by sharing ways by which we can prevail together.

Ashley E. Muller is an AI researcher at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and CEO of an ethical AI governance company. She sits on Norway’s national AI standards committee and is an appointed European expert to develop EU AI Act harmonized standards. She has experience in consulting, government, AI development, and academia from Norway, Germany, the US, and the WHO. She currently leads Nordic Women in AI Governance in addition to being the Research and Education Lead for Women in AI Norway, and is very aware of how insufficient a gender-only lens is if conversations on AI are to properly include marginalized perspectives.

Branislav Radeljić is a professor of political science focusing on Europe and the Middle East. As a consultant, he has conducted research and provided specialized services to a broad range of clients, including government entities and non-governmental stakeholders. His expertise includes evaluating institutional arrangements, transparency and responsibility, and prospects for increased citizen participation. His research on AI examines policies and governance, with a particular interest in addressing bias, assessing levels of risk, and promoting responsible AI development. He is especially intrigued by the societal implications of AI technologies and how they can be regulated to ensure ethical and equitable outcomes.