The article "The Global Institutional Governance of AI: A Four-Dimensional Perspective" explores the governance of artificial intelligence (AI) in the context of a global race to regulate it. It argues that the current narrative of a "global race toward the regulation of AI" should be reframed as a "race toward the global regulation of AI" to address the cross-cutting, cross-boundary, and cross-cultural nature of AI technologies. The article emphasizes the need to tie AI regulation to other global governance issues, such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and to reform the international system to establish a more efficient and coherent global institutional framework. It highlights the challenges posed by the fragmented nature of current international law and organizations, and suggests that cognitive change, rather than cataclysms, may drive institutional reform. The article also discusses the importance of four-dimensional thinking, inspired by Einstein's concept of a four-dimensional space-time continuum, to imagine future modes of human cognition and governance.The article "The Global Institutional Governance of AI: A Four-Dimensional Perspective" explores the governance of artificial intelligence (AI) in the context of a global race to regulate it. It argues that the current narrative of a "global race toward the regulation of AI" should be reframed as a "race toward the global regulation of AI" to address the cross-cutting, cross-boundary, and cross-cultural nature of AI technologies. The article emphasizes the need to tie AI regulation to other global governance issues, such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and to reform the international system to establish a more efficient and coherent global institutional framework. It highlights the challenges posed by the fragmented nature of current international law and organizations, and suggests that cognitive change, rather than cataclysms, may drive institutional reform. The article also discusses the importance of four-dimensional thinking, inspired by Einstein's concept of a four-dimensional space-time continuum, to imagine future modes of human cognition and governance.