Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
AI governance is not a one-note issue. It spans geopolitics, science, philosophy, sociology, and as it grows and impacts more aspects of human governance and decision making, so does its span. Unlike the Space Race, there’s little reason for international actors to limit collaboration, given the intangible nature of this progress and its broad reach into so many aspects of our lives across the globe. What stags are we missing by limiting ourselves to hunting rabbits?
Paul and Vass are joined by Boris Babic and Brian Wong of the University of Hong Kong to discuss the intersection of governance, philosophy, physics and more to tackle today’s beast of AI. Touching on both responsibilities and freedoms of governments and private actors, they open a window to a world in which AI advancements are shared and grown, not kept under lock and key to wither without sunlight.
Mentioned:
• Supranational organizations: archive.unescwa.org/supranational-organizations
• “Raising the lobster”: sinicapodcast.com/p/raising-the-lobster-phrase-of-the
• Iris Marion Young: cambridge.org/core/books/abs/cambridge-habermas-lexicon/iris-marion-young-19492006/727AC8DA7417548D6EB1372A043F8085
• OpenClaw AI: openclaw.ai
• The Space Race: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Race
• NeurIPS: neurips.cc
• NeurIPS US-sanctioned contributors ban (and reversal): reuters.com/world/china/china-boycotts-top-ai-conference-after-ban-papers-us-sanctioned-entities-2026-03-27
• Stag Hunt in game theory: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stag_hunt
• Nash equilibrium: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nash_equilibrium
• Mark Carney’s speech at the World Economic Forum: youtube.com/watch?v=sFBkNX1-cbg
• Brussels strategic roadmap for digitalisation and AI in energy: https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/WK-16692-2025-INIT/en/pdf
• Kenya Artificial Intelligence Strategy: https://ict.go.ke/sites/default/files/2025-03/Kenya%20AI%20Strategy%202025%20-%202030.pdf
• The Three-Body Problem, novel by Liu Cixin: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Three-Body_Problem_(novel)
Further Reading:
• Boris Babic: borisbabic.com
• Brian Wong: cccw.hku.hk/team/brian-wong/ (https://cccw.hku.hk/team/brian-wong/)
Credits:
Policy Prompt is produced by Vass Bednar and Paul Samson. Our supervising producer is Tim Lewis, with technical production by Henry Daemen and Luke McKee. Show notes are prepared by Rebecca MacIntyre, Libza Manna and Isabel Neufeld, who also handles social media engagement, brand design and episode artwork by Abhilasha Dewan and Sami Chouhdary, with creative direction from Som Tsoi.
Original music by Joshua Snethlage.
Sound mix and mastering by François Goudreault.
Be sure to follow us on social media.
• X: https://x.com/_policyprompt
• IG: instagram.com/cigionline/?hl=en
Listen to new episodes of Policy Prompt on all major podcast platforms. Questions, comments or suggestions? Reach out to CIGI’s Policy Prompt team at info@policyprompt.io
AI governance is not a one-note issue. It spans geopolitics, science, philosophy, sociology, and as it grows and impacts more aspects of human governance and decision making, so does its span. Unlike the Space Race, there’s little reason for international actors to limit collaboration, given the intangible nature of this progress and its broad reach into so many aspects of our lives across the globe. What stags are we missing by limiting ourselves to hunting rabbits?
Paul and Vass are joined by Boris Babic and Brian Wong of the University of Hong Kong to discuss the intersection of governance, philosophy, physics and more to tackle today’s beast of AI. Touching on both responsibilities and freedoms of governments and private actors, they open a window to a world in which AI advancements are shared and grown, not kept under lock and key to wither without sunlight.
Mentioned:
• Supranational organizations: archive.unescwa.org/supranational-organizations
• “Raising the lobster”: sinicapodcast.com/p/raising-the-lobster-phrase-of-the
• Iris Marion Young: cambridge.org/core/books/abs/cambridge-habermas-lexicon/iris-marion-young-19492006/727AC8DA7417548D6EB1372A043F8085
• OpenClaw AI: openclaw.ai
• The Space Race: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Race
• NeurIPS: neurips.cc
• NeurIPS US-sanctioned contributors ban (and reversal): reuters.com/world/china/china-boycotts-top-ai-conference-after-ban-papers-us-sanctioned-entities-2026-03-27
• Stag Hunt in game theory: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stag_hunt
• Nash equilibrium: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nash_equilibrium
• Mark Carney’s speech at the World Economic Forum: youtube.com/watch?v=sFBkNX1-cbg
• Brussels strategic roadmap for digitalisation and AI in energy: https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/WK-16692-2025-INIT/en/pdf
• Kenya Artificial Intelligence Strategy: https://ict.go.ke/sites/default/files/2025-03/Kenya%20AI%20Strategy%202025%20-%202030.pdf
• The Three-Body Problem, novel by Liu Cixin: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Three-Body_Problem_(novel)
Further Reading:
• Boris Babic: borisbabic.com
• Brian Wong: cccw.hku.hk/team/brian-wong/ (https://cccw.hku.hk/team/brian-wong/)
Credits:
Policy Prompt is produced by Vass Bednar and Paul Samson. Our supervising producer is Tim Lewis, with technical production by Henry Daemen and Luke McKee. Show notes are prepared by Rebecca MacIntyre, Libza Manna and Isabel Neufeld, who also handles social media engagement, brand design and episode artwork by Abhilasha Dewan and Sami Chouhdary, with creative direction from Som Tsoi.
Original music by Joshua Snethlage.
Sound mix and mastering by François Goudreault.
Be sure to follow us on social media.
• X: https://x.com/_policyprompt
• IG: instagram.com/cigionline/?hl=en
Listen to new episodes of Policy Prompt on all major podcast platforms. Questions, comments or suggestions? Reach out to CIGI’s Policy Prompt team at info@policyprompt.io
