From Recognition to Revolution

At the 2025 Paris Peace Forum, one of the world's premier platforms for global governance innovation, a groundbreaking initiative from AI Safety Asia captured international attention. Among hundreds of proposals from organizations worldwide, RAISE-SEA (Responsible AI Scenarios Exploration for Southeast Asia) was selected as one of the top 10 projects, earning recognition for its innovative approach to one of our era's most pressing challenges: preparing societies for the profound social transformations artificial intelligence will bring.

But recognition is only the beginning. RAISE-SEA represents a fundamental reimagining of how we equip policymakers to govern emerging technologies, not through reactive regulation, but through proactive preparation.

A Flight Simulator for Public Policy

Leveraging advanced AI systems, RAISE-SEA functions as an interactive "flight simulator" for public policy, allowing leaders to explore potential futures, test policy interventions, and understand cascading effects before making consequential decisions.

By creating safe spaces for experimentation and learning, the platform enables policymakers to develop the anticipatory governance capacities needed in an era of rapid technological change.

Anticipatory Governance in Practice

Traditional policymaking often operates reactively, identifying problems after they've emerged and crafting responses under pressure. But AI's pace of development and deployment demands a different approach: anticipatory governance that identifies potential challenges early and builds resilience proactively.

RAISE-SEA operationalizes this vision through scenario planning, stakeholder engagement, and evidence-based modeling. By simulating diverse AI futures, from optimistic scenarios of broad-based prosperity to challenging scenarios of concentrated disruption, the platform helps leaders develop robust strategies that can adapt across multiple possible trajectories.

The result is policy that's not just responsive but resilient, not just reactive but strategic.

Building Capacity, Shaping Futures

RAISE-SEA's impact extends beyond individual policy decisions to capacity building at scale. As leaders engage with the platform, they develop deeper literacy around AI technologies, sharpen their systems-thinking capabilities, and strengthen their ability to navigate uncertainty, skills that will prove essential across decades of technological transformation.

This capacity building creates a multiplier effect. Leaders trained through RAISE-SEA return to their governments, organizations, and communities equipped to lead more informed conversations about AI governance, to mentor emerging policymakers, and to advocate for approaches grounded in evidence and foresight rather than fear and speculation.

The Road Ahead

The Paris Peace Forum recognition validates RAISE-SEA's approach and positions it for expanded impact. As the platform develops, AISA is working to extend its reach across additional regions of the Global South, refine its scenario modeling based on emerging research, and deepen partnerships with governments, international organizations, and civil society.

But the ultimate measure of RAISE-SEA's success won't be awards or recognition, it will be measured in policies that successfully navigate AI's complexities, societies that harness AI's benefits while mitigating its risks, and leaders who govern with both wisdom and foresight.

In an era defined by rapid technological change, RAISE-SEA offers something increasingly rare: the opportunity to prepare before we're forced to respond.

Explore RAISE_SEA: https://www.raisesea.org/