Governance

In a Gist

Our current governance is made up as follows. Ultimate power resides in the Board, which elects the President for ordinary activities. An Interim Secretariat, under revision and expansion, will in the future acquire ever more steering power. Team and Advisors respond to the President.

In Detail

On July 1st, 2024 the Coalition was convened by the Trustless Computing Association (lead by Rufo guerreschi), then Informally established on September 10th, 2024, by six founding NGO Partners via a joint announcement and a partnership agreement (pdf), and then launched on December 18th, 2024, with a 90-page collabroative paper, a videos and an open call.

Following $60,000 funding from the Survival and Flourishing Fund in February 2025, it was established as a legal Italian non-profit (of the type “ente del terzo settore”) on March 20th, 2025, with a Tax/Org ID number (codice fiscale) 96624000582, with legal headquarters in Largo dell'Olgiata 15, Isola 13-5d, 00123, Rome, Italy. 

Until March 20th, 2025, the Coalition was governed by an Interim Secretariat composed of the six founding partner organizations and initiatives, which met weekly for strategy meetings. It was run exclusively on volunteer work, with over 1500 hours of volunteer work contributed by partners and advisors.

Since that date, the Coalition has been legally governed by the three members of the Board of Directors of the Italian non-profit organization, as required by Italian law, which stipulates that they must be at least three Italian citizens holding an Italian "codice fiscale".

Over the following weeks and months, we'll be engaging with th founding partner, other organziations that have applied to join, and other selected leading NGOs and individuals to re-create a open, plural and globally diverse governance for the Coalition, made of up of organizational partners and indivuals that are solidly committedd for the long term.

Rufo Guerreschi leads daily activities in his role as President, leading a small Team and over 20 distinguished Advisors, all of whom are professionals generously contributing their time on a volunteer basis.

Board of Directors

  • Roberto Savio.
    World-renowned geopolitics and global media expert, and a lifelong passionate activist for social justice and democratic global governance.
    Organizer of several conferences in Rome on geopolitics and AI governance, including with Jeffrey Sachs and the Vatican's top official on AI. An esteemed Italo-Argentinian journalist, communication expert, and a respected political commentator.Co-founded Inter Press Service in 1964 and led its transformation into the premier news agency of the Global South over the following decades. Roberto served as the Deputy Director of the World Policy Forum Scientific Council, an initiative founded by Mikhail Gorbachev. Since its inception in 2001, he has been a founder and active member of the International Committee of the World Social Forum. Roberto oversees international relations at the European Center for Peace and Development and the United Nations University for Peace (ECPD). Previously, he was the Chairman of the Board of the Alliance for a New Humanity, further demonstrating his commitment to fostering global collaboration and peace.

  • Rufo Guerreschi
    An accomplished activist, researcher, and entrepreneur dedicated to advancing liberty and democracy globally through innovative digital technologies.
    He founded the Trustless Computing Association and its spin-off, TRUSTLESS.AI. Rufo has been the visionary behind the Free and Safe in Cyberspace conference series since 2015, which advocates for a groundbreaking IT security paradigm—the Trustless Computing Paradigms—to harmonize personal freedoms with public safety. Previously, he was the founder and CEO of Participatory Technologies Srl, a company that provided open-source e-democracy solutions to transnational political organizations across three continents. As the Global Vice President at 4thPass, he pioneered the first Java mobile app store system, securing over 10 million euros in deals with major clients like Telefonica. As CEO, he increased the valuation of the Open Media Park, a planned second-largest media and cybersecurity technology park in Europe, from € 3 million to € 21 million.

  • Davide Cova.
    An International peace and relations expert and trained Buddhist and spiritual teacher.
    Founder and director of the Dorjeling Center in Piediluco, Italy; he is an experienced teacher of secular Buddhist meditation, psychology, and philosophy. Holding a degree in Political Philosophy, he has further specialized in Conflict Resolution and gained valuable experience as a political analyst at the United Nations in New York and Copenhagen. Davide was a dedicated disciple of the Dalai Lama and the Venerable Lama Geshe Ciampa Gyatso for a decade. He completed a rigorous seven-year full-time Master's Program in Buddhist Studies and spent three years as a Buddhist monk. His spiritual exploration included pilgrimages to prominent Buddhist sites in India and significant Christian sites in the Middle East, followed by a 16-month solitary meditative retreat.

Interim Secretariat

  • (Italy) Rufo Guerreschi, President of the Coalition for a Baruch Plan for AI and Founder and Executive Director of the Trustless Computing Association

  • (US) Felix De Simone,  Organizing Director of PauseAI US and Spokesperson at PauseAI Global.

  • (Netherlands) Joep Meindertsma. CEO of Pause AI, an international non-profit promoting a Proposal for a powerful global democratic organization to regulate AI.

  • (China) Xiaohu Zhu, Founder at Center for Safe AGI, Shanghai; AI Existential Safety researcher at the Future of Life Institute; Foresight Fellow in Safe AGI at Foresight Institute

  • (Norway) Tolga Bilge. Founder of the AItreaty.org initiative to reduce the catastrophic risks of AI and ensure the benefits of AI for all. Policy Researcher at ControlAI.

  • (Italy) Roberto Savio. Director of External Relations at the European Center for Peace and Development and the University of Peace of the United Nations (ECPD).

  • (Italy) Davide Cova. International peace and relations expert and spiritual teacher.

Founding NGO Members

Trustless Computing Association is a Geneva-based international non-profit dedicated since 2015 to facilitating a democratic, timely and efficient treaty-making process to create proper global federal governance of AI and digital communication - primarily through its Harnessing AI Risk Initiative. Led by its founder and executive director Rufo Guerreschi, it is the original Convenor of this Coalition. 

Transnational Working Group on AI of the World Federalist Movement (WFM), an organization established in 1947, and since then one of the foremost NGOs in global federal democratization. It was the Convenor of the Coalition for the International Criminal Court of 2500 NGOs that led to the signing by 125 states. They have produced outstanding reports, proposals and analysis on the global governance of AI. Robert Whitfield is the Chairman of its Working Group for AI.

AITreaty.org is an initiative to advance the development and ratification of an international AI treaty to reduce the catastrophic risks of AI and ensure the benefits of AI for all. Led by Tolga Bilge, AITreaty.org hosted an influential open letter for the same signed by hundreds of top AI experts. It is currently looking to establish itself as an NGO.

PauseAI is an international non-profit promoting a Proposal for a powerful global democratic organization to regulate AI. It has gained comprehensive mainstream media coverage, and is widely known in US/US AI safety circles. Led by Joep Meindertsma, it has catalyzed extensive youth active volunteer engagement around the world.

International Congress for the Governance of Artificial Intelligence (ICGAI) an international  initiative (now dormant, active 2018 and 2021) that brought together impressive and globally diverse advisors and speakers to advance a participatory global governance of AI. Founded and co-led by Wendell Wallach, from Yale and Carnegie Council, and board member at TCA. It is currently a dormant initiative, looking to establish itself as an NGO.

European Center for Peace and Development and University of Peace of the United Nations (ECPD). Established in 1979 by the UN General Assembly, it is a leading educational, research and advocacy institution for the promotion of global peace, reconciliation, socio-economic development and international cooperation. Led by its Executive Director Negoslav J. Ostojìc.

Team (Executive Committee)

  • (Italy) Rufo Guerreschi, Convenor, Coordinator, and Spokesperson.
    (full-time part part compensated, part volunteer)

  • (Netherlands) Joep Meindertsma. Communications and Strategy

  • (US) Felix De Simone, Content Director and Outreach
    (part-time volunteer)

  • (China) Xiaohu Zhu, Far-East Outreach
    (part-time volunteer)

NGO Members

(Israel) Association for Long Term Existence and Resilience. Works to investigate, demonstrate, and foster practical ways to improve and to safeguard the future in the short & long term of humanity.

(USA) Pause AI USA. A grassroots organizing effort for an international treaty to pause advanced AI training until we know how to proceed safely.

(USA) Center for Existential Safety. aim is to galvanize collective action to ensure humanity survives this decade. If we can achieve that, then we are likely to create an unimaginably good future for all.

Advisors

  • (USA) Richard Falk. Emeritus professor at Princeton University. Renowned expert in global democratic governance. Advisor of the Trustless Computing Association.

  • (Switzerland/US) Mark Barwinski. Former Group Head of Cybersecurity Operations at UBS, the largest wealth management bank in the world. Formerly at Siemens and at the TAO unit of the US National Security Agency.

  • (Gambia) Amb. Muhammadou Kah. Chair of the UN Commission of Science and Technology for Development. Ambassador Extraordinary & Plenipotentiary of The Gambia to Switzerland & Permanent Representative to UN Organisations at Geneva, WTO & Other International Organisations in Switzerland.

  • (USA) Chase Cunningham. Co-founder of the Zero Trust IT security paradigms. Former Chief Cryptologist and the US National Security Agency.

  • (Brazil) Edson Prestes. Member of Global Commission on Responsible Artificial Intelligence in the Military Domain (GC REAIM). Head of the Robotics Research Group, Informatics Institute, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul.

  • (Israel) David Manheim. Founder, Head of Policy and Research of the Association for Long Term Existence and Resilience (ALTER). AI Safety and safety governance scientist and research.

  • (Italy) Yernur Kairly, AI Existential Risk Researcher and advocate. Research Associate at the Consortium for AI & Existential Risks (AiXist)

  • (Switzerland) Jennifer Blanke. Former Chief Economist of the World Economic Forum.

  • (UK/Canada/Russia) Boris Taratine. IT security expert, former Chief Cyber Security Architect at Lloyds Banking Group, former Principal Security Architect at VISA Europe. Advisor of the Trustless Computing Association.

  • (USA) David Hart. AI Safety Expert. Cofounder of the Open Cog Foundation.

  • (Australia) Kobi Leins. Fellow of the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research, and advisory board member of the Carnegie Artificial Intelligence and Equality Initiative (AIEI).

  • (USA) James Norris, Executive Director of the Center for Existential Safety.

  • (Germany) Lukas Pöhler. Member Of The Board Of Advisors of the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs. Previously at UN and McKinsey.

  • (Singapore) Jimmy Y. Zhong, PhD, Cognitive Neuroscientist, Advocate for AI Advancement. Honorary Research Scientist at Georgia Institute of Technology. Master in Philosophy from Oxford University.

  • (UK ) David Wood, Chair of the London Futurists. Advisor of Trustless Computing Association

  • (Switzerland) Jan Camenisch. CTO at Dfinity, 140 patents awards. Advisor of the Trustless Computing Association.

  • (USA) Khullani Abdullahi. Founder of Techné A, AI safety compliance consultancy. Senior management official in cybersecurity and medical, pivoting to AI safety governance.

  • (USA) Mehmet Sencan. Hardware security and Guaranteed Safe AI expert. Hardware Research Consultant at Atlas Consulting.

  • (Brazil) Flavio S. Correa da Silva. Director of the Research Center on Open Source Software and member of the Laboratory of Logics, Artificial Intelligence and Formal Methods at University of Sao Paulo, Brazil.

  • (USA) John Havens. Founding Executive Director of the IEEE Global Initiative on Ethics of Autonomous and Intelligent Systems. Member, World Economic Forum Global Future Council on Human Rights and Technology.

    High-Level Advisory Board

    • Work in progress.

    Volunteers

  • (Saudi Arabia) Faisal Alzahrani. AI engineer at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology of Saudi Arabia.

  • (India) Rujuta Karekar. AI safety activist and digital content and communication consultant.

  • (Italy) Elena Viezzoli. Telecommunication executive, Startup mentor and fundraising consultant.

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