AGILE Index Framework
Overview
The AI Governance InternationaL Evaluation Index (AGILE Index) is a four-pillar framework for assessing national AI governance maturity. It operationalizes the principle that governance should match development, measuring both capacity to govern and actual governance outcomes.
Components
Pillar 1: AI Development Level Measures the scale of AI research, infrastructure, and industry. Includes: publications, researchers, patents, systems developed, data centers, supercomputing capacity, industry funding. Higher scores mean larger AI footprint requiring governance.
Pillar 2: AI Governance Environment Assesses the political and technological terrain that shapes governance challenges. Includes: AI risk exposure (incident rates), general governance readiness, digital development level. Higher scores mean fewer challenges and better conditions for governance.
Pillar 3: AI Governance Instruments Evaluates the toolkit available for governance. Includes: AI strategies, dedicated bodies, ethical principles and assessments, technical standards, legislation, international cooperation mechanisms. Higher scores mean more comprehensive governance infrastructure.
Pillar 4: AI Governance Effectiveness Measures actual governance outcomes. Includes: public understanding and trust, algorithm transparency, AI governance research activity, AI applications for sustainable development. Higher scores mean governance is working in practice.
When to Use
Useful for understanding that governance maturity isn’t one-dimensional. An organization or country can be strong on governance instruments but weak on effectiveness. The framework prompts asking: do we have the tools to govern, and is governance actually achieving outcomes?
Limitations
- Indicators are necessarily measurable proxies for complex phenomena
- Cross-national comparability requires standardization that may miss local context
- Effectiveness measures like “public trust” conflate many factors beyond governance quality
- The framework assumes governance and development should track together, but optimal governance-development ratios aren’t known
Related: 05-atom—governance-development-matching-principle, 05-molecule—country-typology-ai-governance, 05-atom—capacity-versus-effectiveness