UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that artificial intelligence is advancing at a pace that outstrips global regulatory efforts, urging international harmonization to mitigate risks, particularly to children. He highlighted AI's rapid impact on economies, work, elections, and security, and called for a ban on lethal autonomous weapons.
The rapid, unregulated advancement of artificial intelligence poses significant risks to global security, economic stability, and the integrity of information, necessitating urgent international cooperation and governance to ensure AI benefits humanity rather than harms it.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres opened the first Global Dialogue on AI Governance in Geneva, warning that artificial intelligence is advancing at a pace that outstrips global regulatory efforts and institutions. He emphasized that AI's development is 'runaway' and faster than even its creators can fully comprehend, impacting economies, the future of work, elections, and global security.
Guterres used the term 'vibe coding'—a practice of letting AI write software with minimal human scrutiny—as a metaphor for dangerously passive governance, stating, 'We cannot vibe code the future of humanity.' He highlighted that current AI systems are increasingly making decisions with less human oversight, a capability for which existing institutions are unprepared.
Key proposals from Guterres included an international legal ban on lethal autonomous weapons, which he described as 'morally repugnant.' He also launched an AI Child Safety Pledge, requiring companies to prove AI safety before deployment to children and to ensure distressed children are connected to human support rather than chatbots. The dialogue, attended by all 193 UN member states, also addressed concerns about the concentration of AI power in a few companies and countries, and the erosion of the information ecosystem due to AI-enabled falsehoods.
A preliminary report from the Independent International Scientific Panel on Artificial Intelligence, comprising 40 scientists from 140 countries, was presented, finding that no one can currently guarantee AI will not cause catastrophic harm. The report also warned about the power dynamics and the threat to truth posed by AI. Guterres challenged major AI companies to run all data centers on renewable energy by 2030.
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