Artificial intelligence and the rapid expansion of digital technologies are reshaping economies, societies, and national security. The question is no longer whether these technologies will transform the world, but whether they can be developed, deployed, and governed securely and resiliently.

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The Commonwealth is uniquely positioned at the centre of this challenge. Spanning 56 member states, with a combined GDP projected to reach USD 19.5 trillion by 2027, and 2.7 billion citizens—60% of whom are under the age of 30 and growing up in an increasingly digital world—it brings together advanced digital economies and emerging technology markets with an unprecedented opportunity to harness AI and the expansion of digital technologies to drive economic growth, strengthen security, and build resilience.

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Realising that opportunity depends on AI and digital ecosystems that are secure, resilient, and trusted — able to withstand rapidly evolving technological, cyber, and geopolitical risk. That requires practical collaboration across governments, industry, academia, and civil society to strengthen the security of AI systems, the resilience of digital infrastructure, and the governance frameworks underpinning them.

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Commonwealth leaders have already recognised this. At that latest Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Samoa 2024, leaders stressed the importance of multistakeholder collaboration to ensure the safe, secure, trustworthy, human-centric, responsible, interoperable and inclusive development of AI — while recognising its transformative potential.

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