WIPO Launches Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Interchange

Geneva, March 17, 2026
PR/2026/949

WIPO today launched the Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Interchange (AIII), a new initiative for expert dialogue on IP and AI issues that will focus on technical and operational issues and complement ongoing discussions at other WIPO forums.

More than 1,700 participants – including government Ministers, industry leaders in the field of AI and IP as well as other stakeholders – registered to join the launch event held at WIPO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

In his opening address, WIPO Director General Daren Tang said: “AI has the power to change the nature of innovation and creativity. This poses challenges for the global IP ecosystem, but also gives us an opening to identify and seize new opportunities.”

“History shows that new technologies only reach their full potential when the systems around them evolve too. Railways transformed economies once networks became interoperable. Music streaming scaled once the industry built the metadata and rights infrastructure needed for content to move efficiently through the digital ecosystem. AI is now at a similar moment,” Mr. Tang said.

He added: “By building strong and healthy infrastructure networks, we can help AI achieve its potential of creating new opportunities while supporting, enabling and empowering human innovators and creators.”

Conversations that include creators, rights-holders, developers and technical experts and others will revolve around issues like facilitating access to data at scale, identification and attribution standards, watermarking, fingerprinting, rights management and even the use of AI to address IP enforcement and infrastructure.

To support the detailed, technical-level discussions envisioned for AIII, a Technical Exchange Network has been assembled with over 90 experts from dozens of countries, spanning technology firms, AI developers, rightsholders, individual creators, academia, and civil society.

This global network of experts will initially focus on undertaking a first-of-its-kind mapping exercise of both existing copyright infrastructure and the technical challenges and opportunities arising from the intersection of AI and the creative economy. The results of this mapping will lead to identification of targeted areas for further work.

The results and the status of the work of the Technical Exchange Network will be shared at the annual public meeting of the AIII scheduled for October 2, 2026 where Member State representatives and other stakeholders will give input on the ongoing work of the Technical Exchange Network. Other parties wishing to join the technical network can apply here: Application Form.

The launch ceremony featured opening remarks from Morocco’s Minister for Digital Transition and Reform of the Administration of Morocco Amal El Fallah Seghrouchni and Spain’s Minister for Culture Ernest Urtasun Domènech.

The event also featured a lineup of international speakers reflecting on the importance of the new initiative, many of whom represent companies that will be part of the Technical Exchange Network, including:

• Ariana Arciniega, Executive Vice President, Global Operations and Business Development Strategy, Intercept Music, Mexico
• Solange Cesarovna, Singer-Songwriter, Cabo Verde
• Dante Cid, President, Brazilian Publishers Association and Executive Committee Member, International Publishers Association, Brazil
• Imogen Heap, Recording Artist and Technologist, United Kingdom
• Matt Hervey, Senior Associate General Counsel, AI Strategy, Cloudflare, United Kingdom
• Vered Horesh, Chief AI Strategy Officer, Bria Artificial Intelligence, Ltd., Israel
• Chris Horton, Executive Vice President, Strategic Technology, Universal Music Group, United States of America
• Mark Isherwood, Secretariat, Digital Data Exchange (DDEX), United Kingdom
• Ren Ito, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer, Sakana AI, Japan
• Bruce MacCormack, Principal, Neural Transform, Canada
• Malumbo Mkandawire, Director of Operations, Copyright Society of Malawi, Malawi
• Ana da Motta, Senior Manager, Digital Affairs & Artificial Intelligence, Amazon Web Services Public Policy Europe, Middle East and Africa, Brazil
• Alessandra Sala, Senior Director of Artificial Intelligence and Data Science, Shutterstock, Italy
• Guoyi Zhao, Director, Government Affairs, RELX, China
• Andy Carne, Special Projects Lead, Imogen Heap, United Kingdom
• Utkarsh Saxena, Chief Executive Officer, Adalat.ai, India