The Pact for the Future is the UN’s attempt to update the rules of cooperation for a more fragmented decade, and its digital annex is the piece that matters most for this beat. The Global Digital Compact is the first comprehensive global framework for governing digital technology and artificial intelligence, and it set in motion the AI governance work now unfolding through 2026.
What it commits to
The Pact bundles commitments across development finance, peace and security, youth and future generations, and the reform of institutions such as the Security Council and the international financial architecture. The Global Digital Compact, adopted as part of it, commits to closing digital divides, governing data, and putting guardrails around AI. Two of its concrete outputs anchor the 2026 calendar: an Independent International Scientific Panel on AI and a standing Global Dialogue on AI Governance, both established by the General Assembly to give member states a shared evidence base and a place to negotiate.
Why it matters here
For a program focused on counting the SDGs, the Pact matters on two fronts. It reaffirms the 2030 Agenda and the financing needed to deliver it, and it builds the governance scaffolding for the technology reshaping how development is measured and delivered. The panel and the dialogue it created are covered directly in our Global Dialogue on AI Governance and Scientific Panel coverage.
Read it
- The Pact for the Future, Global Digital Compact and Declaration on Future Generations, the official texts (A/RES/79/1).
- International AI Safety Report 2026, part of the evidence base the AI framework rests on.