2.2 Geography

Programs in the database represent 64 unique geographic areas. In reviewing the World Bank’s classification for the regions and wealth of countries in this list, a concentration is detected in terms of the type of nation(s) interested in dedicating resources to the creation of AI soft law programs [28]. Out of the 64 locations, 70% of these countries are either in Europe and Central Asia or East Asia and Pacific, and 80% are considered high-income (see Table 4).

Further information was found in the two types of geographic relationships examined in the database (see Table 5). Country of origin describes the location where a soft law program was created, while jurisdiction represents its intended geographical area of application (“jurisdiction”). The U.S. is an important influence in this database as it is home to a large proportion of technology-based organizations that develop AI products and services, ~45% of which operate internationally. Compared to the US, countries such as Canada and China appear to have a mostly insular scope of geographic influence.