AI Without Borders: UN’s Tomas Lamanuskas in Conversation with Sanjay Puri

Sanjay Puri and UN’s Tomas Lamanuskas discuss about global AI standards, fairness, and how to ensure innovation benefits across all nations.

WASHINGTON, DC, UNITED STATES, September 26, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- What does it take to make artificial intelligence serve all people and not just a few dominant nations? That's the question Sanjay Puri, host of the RegulatingAI podcast, posed to Tomas Lamanuskas, Deputy Secretary-General of the UN's International Telecommunication Union (ITU), in a podcast already generating global speculation.

Right from the beginning, Lamanuskas put AI in a long historical perspective. He reminded the audience that ITU was established more than 150 years ago to address a very pragmatic issue: ensuring telegraph messages can be transferred across borders. Back then, each nation used its own system, and without standards in common, they could not communicate. " When telegraph was invented … to make sure it works across borders … that’s why they set up International Telegraph Union, " he stated.

Now, AI also has the same challenge. Just as telegraphs required common rules, contemporary AI requires global collaboration and technical standards so that systems can communicate, interoperate, and serve everyone. The concept of interoperability getting various technologies to play nicely together was one topic Lamanuskas came back to repeatedly. " You encourage interoperability … so that different islands of technology can work together, " he explained.

To him, the future of AI is not constructing walls around national systems but crossing bridges. Standards, he mentioned, are not obstacles to innovation. Rather, they are the platform on which innovation travels across borders.

However, technical standards are only half the story. Both Lamanuskas and Puri saw there is a greater challenge: equity. Should AI development fall in the hands of a few nations, billions will be left behind. Lamanuskas was firm on this: "We hope … the AI power, the positive power is really felt around the world by everyone." For ITU, having equal access is as crucial as having standards.

To show the significance of infrastructure, Lamanuskas referred to something few people never consider: undersea cables. " Ninety-nine percent of international internet traffic travels through about 500 undersea cables, which break nearly 200 times a year," he said.

This invisible network is the support of global connectivity, and in the absence of investment in its longevity, the possibilities of AI can remain out of the reach of less industrialized or smaller countries.

During the discussion, Sanjay Puri was both a guide and a challenger. A renowned authority on regulating AI, Puri asked pertinent questions about accountability, governance, and the duty of smaller countries to assist in penning the rulebook for AI. He steered the discussion beyond technology and insisted where individuals are part of it: how do we develop policies that protect people, promote new ideas, and make sure no one gets left behind?

The episode illustrates that the regulation of AI is not the concern of a handful of specialists in privacy. It is an international debate, one that impacts democracy, development, and human dignity. By engaging the likes of Lamanuskas, RegulatingAI continues to advance this debate in ways that are both timely and urgent.

About RegulatingAI
RegulatingAI, an initiative of Knowledge Networks, is a non-profit organization focused on promoting ethical AI governance. We empower regulators, industry leaders, and advocacy groups with the knowledge and tools necessary to shape the future of AI technologies, ensuring they are developed with trust and transparency.

Ananya Dutta
Knowledge Networks
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How the UN’s ITU Is Shaping Global AI Standards Ft. Tomas Lamanauskas | RegulatingAI Podcast

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