Artificial intelligence (AI) is creating novel challenges for governance. Technical advances and widening use of AI have increased concerns about the risks of such technology, while also underscoring its transformational potential. This collection of nine essays explores pathways towards responsible AI, and proposes both broad principles and specific ideas for future-proof AI governance.

This briefing highlights how the COVID-19 pandemic is exacerbating economic and social insecurity for more than 2 billion people employed in the informal sector, and adding to global inequality. The author argues that a radical rethink of the nature of work and social insurance is needed.

This paper explores the role of the global food system as the principal driver of accelerating biodiversity loss. It explains how food production is degrading or destroying natural habitats and contributing to species extinction.

China is often said to be pursuing ‘debt-trap diplomacy’: luring poor, developing countries into agreeing unsustainable loans to pursue infrastructure projects so that, when they experience financial difficulty, Beijing can seize the asset, thereby extending its strategic or military reach. This paper demonstrates that the evidence for such views is limited.

Canadian attitudes towards China have undergone a dramatic shift – from ambivalence to distrust – since the two countries became locked in a diplomatic dispute in late 2018. This paper argues that these hardened sentiments are unlikely to dissipate and Canada–China relations seem to have entered a new, warier phase.