Lula Urges Balanced AI Governance to Bridge Global Digital Divide

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s address at the India Summit on February 19, 2026, represents a pivotal moment in the global discourse on artificial intelligence regulation. By advocating for a balanced governance model, the Brazilian leader is positioning the Global South as a critical stakeholder in a domain currently dominated by Northern technological hegemony. This intervention is not merely a call for inclusion; it is a strategic maneuver to ensure that the rapid advancement of AI does not institutionalize a new era of digital colonialism, where emerging economies are relegated to being mere data providers and consumers of foreign-built models.

Central to Lula’s argument is the tension between innovation and equity. While the United States has largely pursued a market-driven safety framework and the European Union has implemented the rigorous, rights-based AI Act, Brazil is carving out a middle way. This approach is best exemplified by Brazil's legislative efforts, such as Bill 2338/23, which has been a cornerstone of domestic policy debate and served as a key reference point during the summit. The bill establishes a risk-based classification system for AI applications, similar to the EU's model, but places a unique emphasis on civil liability and the protection of fundamental human rights within a developing-nation context. By highlighting these principles in India—a nation that shares similar aspirations for digital self-reliance—Lula is signaling the formation of a powerful regulatory bloc that could challenge the existing duopoly of Western and Chinese AI standards.

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President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s address at the India Summit on February 19, 2026, represents a pivotal moment in the global discourse on artificial intelligence regulation.

The implications of this balanced governance are profound for the global technology sector. In the short term, multinational AI developers may face a more fragmented regulatory landscape. Lula’s vision suggests that compliance will eventually require more than just technical safety audits; it will likely involve mandates for technology transfer, local data residency, and the development of models that reflect regional linguistic and cultural nuances. For countries like Brazil and India, sovereign AI is becoming a matter of national security and economic survival. Without the ability to train and deploy their own models on local infrastructure, these nations risk a permanent wealth gap driven by the high compute costs and proprietary nature of current frontier models.

Furthermore, Lula's focus on governance highlights a shift toward a multipolar regulatory environment. The discourse at the India Summit suggests that the era of a single, unified set of AI safety principles—often defined in London or Washington—is coming to an end. Instead, we are seeing the emergence of a framework that prioritizes social utility and economic redistribution. This balanced approach seeks to mitigate the risks of AI, such as algorithmic bias and job displacement, while simultaneously lowering the barriers to entry for developing nations. The goal is to ensure that the AI dividend is not captured solely by a handful of trillion-dollar corporations but is used to address systemic challenges in healthcare, education, and public administration across the Global South.

Looking ahead, the momentum generated at this summit is expected to carry over into upcoming multilateral forums, including the United Nations' Global Digital Compact and future G20 meetings. The challenge for Lula and his counterparts will be the technical implementation of these high-level ideals. Establishing international standards for equitable data sharing and collaborative compute resources will require unprecedented levels of diplomatic and technical cooperation. As AI capabilities continue to accelerate, the window for establishing this balanced governance is narrow. The alignment between Brazil and India on these issues creates a formidable middle-power influence that tech giants and Western regulators can no longer afford to ignore.