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WAIG:2026 World AI Governance Index

Whose AI governance rules are being recognized globally by AI?

When global users ask AI—"Which country has the strictest AI regulations?" "Which countries are doing the best in AI ethics?" "Who is the global model for AI governance?"—the answers given by AI are shaping the world's perception of each country. No matter how strong a country's AI governance capabilities are, if these achievements are not accurately recognized and positively presented by global AI, it is equivalent to voluntarily absenting from the competition for "governance discourse power" in the AI era.

The World AI Governance Index (WAIG) was created to fill this gap—it not only evaluates what countries "have done," but also measures how well they "are perceived by AI."

I. What kind of index is this?

WAIG is the world's first comprehensive AI governance evaluation system that lists "governance substance" and "governance perception" as dual core assessment dimensions.

Traditional governance evaluation tools focus on "what has been done"—how many laws have been enacted, how many regulatory agencies have been established, how many international agreements have been signed. While this is important, in an era where AI is increasingly becoming a core channel for the public to obtain information, a more critical dimension is emerging: "Are the things that have been done accurately recognized and positively recommended by global AI?"

WAIG combines these two dimensions for the first time, evaluating both the "hard power" of a country's AI governance and the "soft power" of its governance achievements in global AI large models—discourse power and recommendation ranking.

II. Dual-core evaluation of global AI governance from two dimensions

Governance Substance (weight: 60%)—What has been done?
Actual institutional construction and action effectiveness of a country in AI governance. Covers six dimensions:

• Legal and Policy Framework: Have specific AI laws and regulations been enacted?
• Standards and Technical Norms: What is the status of national standard construction and participation in international standards?
• Institutions and Regulatory Capacity: Have dedicated AI regulatory agencies been established? How strong is enforcement?
• International Cooperation Participation: How active and contributive is the country in multilateral AI governance initiatives?
• Ethics and Accountability Mechanisms: Are algorithm transparency, ethical review, remedy, and appeal mechanisms sound?
• Public Participation and Literacy: Is AI literacy education coverage and public participation channels adequate?

Governance Perception (weight: 40%)—How well is it perceived by AI?

The manner, accuracy, and recommendation ranking of a country's AI governance achievements as presented in mainstream global AI large models. Covers four dimensions:

• Governance Mention Breadth: Frequency of a country's AI governance achievements being mentioned in AI responses
• Governance Image Quality: Sentiment orientation and factual accuracy of AI descriptions of a country's AI governance
• Governance Model Recommendation: Degree of priority recommendation in questions like "best practices in AI governance"
• Governance Discourse Stability: Consistency and stability of a country's AI governance image across different models and languages

III. Covering 50 major economies globally

The first edition of WAIG covers 50 major economies globally, including all G20 members and representative countries from major regions.

Data sources are cross-verified through multiple channels: legal and policy text analysis, international organization statistics, expert surveys, and standardized AI large model collection.

Data for the governance perception dimension is obtained by sending standardized queries to 15 mainstream global AI large models, covering seventy languages including Chinese, English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Japanese, and Korean.

WAIG is published annually, with 2026 as the inaugural baseline year.

IV. Who is this index for?

Governments: Diagnose the strengths and weaknesses of their own AI governance systems—is the legal framework complete but enforcement insufficient? Or are standards leading but international recognition lacking? WAIG's dual-core structure helps decision-makers focus on both "doing well" and "being perceived well."

International Organizations: Assess the global AI governance landscape, identify regional differences in governance discourse power, and assist in formulating cross-border collaboration strategies.

Academic and Research Institutions: Study the relationship between AI governance, national soft power, and technological development, providing primary data for comparative research on global AI governance.

Enterprises and Investors: Evaluate the AI regulatory environment and governance stability of different countries to assist cross-border operations and investment decisions. A country with strong AI governance perception typically has a more predictable policy environment.

V. How WAIG can be used

Scenario 1: Governance System Diagnosis

Through WAIG's six-dimension radar chart of governance substance, governments can clearly identify the strengths and weaknesses of their own AI governance systems. High score in legal framework but low in standard construction? Complete institutional setup but weak public participation? Each dimension score corresponds to directions and priorities for improvement.

Scenario 2: Governance Discourse Power Assessment

Through WAIG's four-dimension analysis of governance perception, understand whether a country's AI governance achievements are accurately recognized and positively presented by global AI. Has the country invested heavily in AI governance, but are these achievements mentioned in AI models in English and other major languages? Are they described positively? Are they recommended as governance models? Identify the risk of "governance silence" and strengthen governance discourse power construction in a timely manner.

Scenario 3: International Benchmarking and Best Practice Reference

Compare scores of different countries across WAIG dimensions to identify governance experiences worth learning from. Which countries lead in the "international cooperation participation" dimension? Which countries excel in the "ethics and accountability mechanisms" dimension? Which countries have governance perception significantly higher than their governance substance—meaning their governance narrative is amplified in the international AI ecosystem? Benchmarking analysis provides a global perspective for policy formulation.

Scenario 4: Governance Strategy Optimization

Based on diagnostic results, formulate targeted strategies for improving the governance system and enhancing governance discourse power. Insufficient governance substance—accelerate legislative processes, improve standard systems, and strengthen institutional capacity. Insufficient governance perception—increase multilingual authoritative source releases of governance achievements, and promote governance experiences into international organization reports and academic citation chains.

VI. Innovation and Impact

The core innovation of WAIG lies in incorporating "governance perception" into governance evaluation for the first time. In an era where AI increasingly dominates information distribution, the global perception of a country's AI governance capabilities is as important as its actual governance capabilities.

The WAIG research framework has drawn attention from relevant working groups of the United Nations Internet Governance Forum (IGF). Its dual-core evaluation model of "Substantive Power + Cognitive Power" is considered to provide an innovative perspective for global AI governance capability assessment.

VII. How to Obtain More Data?

• The WAIG annual overall ranking and dimension-specific rankings are publicly released on the index's official website, featuring visual charts and data downloads.
• Participating countries can apply for customized diagnostic reports through official channels.
• The annual in-depth report provides insights into global AI governance trends and policy recommendations.

"When global users learn about a country's AI governance level through AI, governance cognitive power is as important as governance substantive power."

——Pei Pang, Chief Designer of the AI Cognitive Index (AICI) Evaluation System

Publishing Organizations

• World Intelligence Organization (WIO) / AI Index Research Institute (a global non-profit organization registered with the United Nations Economic and Social Council, holding U.S. federal government 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status)
• GEO Research Institute of China Screen New Media Internet TV (a company with shares held by the Central Newsreel and Documentary Film Studio of China Media Group)
• WICOWEB Global AI Cognitive Research Center
• Beijing Northern Future Vocational Skills Certification Center (holding a nationwide foreign-related survey license issued by the National Bureau of Statistics of China)
• JingTV