Artificial Intelligence is developing faster than anyone can keep up, the UN Secretary General has warned, and urged the need for globally “harmonised rules to reduce potential risks”, saying “no child should be a guinea pig for unregulated AI”.
Antonio Guterres called for a global governance system to shape artificial intelligence for the good of humanity, warning against allowing the technology to “vibe-code” people’s future.
“AI is already transforming our world; the question is whether we will shape this transformation together, or let it shape us,” Mr Guterres told the first Global Dialogue on AI Governance in Geneva.
‘Vibe-coding’
He cautioned that while so-called “vibe-coding” – allowing AI to code and control machines directly – can “do wonders”, humanity could not allow its future to be “vibe-coded”.
“A technology that can reshape economies, transform the world of work, sway elections and tilt the balance of security is being deployed faster than anyone, including the people building it, can keep up,” he added.
Mr Guterres also warned that this may be the last generation that is able to set the terms on which humanity and machines coexist.
Delegates will consider a report by a UN-backed independent scientific panel of 40 experts, who will present their findings from the first global, independent scientific assessment of AI.
A more comprehensive report is planned next year, alongside a second global meeting in New York.
Concentration of power
Another risk flagged by Mr Guterres was the concentration of power in a handful of AI companies and in a handful of countries.
Most countries “have had no say in decisions that will shape their futures”, he warned.
In the face of such challenges, he said countries faced a stark choice, “between governing by design and drifting by default”.
The UN chief highlighted the potential of AI for everything from accelerating development, to improving healthcare and providing broader access to education.
But he insisted developments needed to be guided by several key priorities, including safety and respect for human rights, to ensure that people everywhere reap the benefits.
Mr Guterres called for “common methods to evaluate and verify risks” and jointly-agreed standards, particularly for ensuring the safety of children accessing AI systems.
“We do not let medicine reach a child until it is proven safe; we test every toy,” he said.
“Yet AI has reached our children – their learning, their friendships, their most private questions – before anyone asked what it would do to them,” he added.
Mr Guterres called for an AI Child Safety Pledge, requiring companies to prove that any system accessible to children is safe and has zero tolerance for sexual abuse.
He said the systems must also connect any child showing signs of distress to real human support.
“No child should be a guinea pig for unregulated AI,” he insisted.
‘Killer robots’
Boosting AI capacity and access in developing countries was also key, he said, to ensure that the existing, deep digital divide does not “harden into an AI divide”.
Mr Guterres said he would urge the UN General Assembly to create a Global Fund for AI, “to build skills, data and affordable computing power everywhere”.
Another priority was reducing AI’s climate impact, he said, reiterating his call for companies to reveal their growing environmental footprint and to commit to powering every data centre with renewable energy by 2030.
The UN chief meanwhile said that his biggest concern revolved around AI in military settings, and in particular so-called lethal autonomous weapon systems.
“Let us call them what they are: Killer robots,” he said.
“Machines selecting and engaging their target and taking a life, without human control and judgement”.
“That is morally repugnant… And it must be banned by international law.”
Mr Guterres stressed the urgency of creating sufficient guardrails to steer AI in a positive direction.
“We may be the last generation able to set the terms on which humanity and machines coexist,” he said.
“The door is still open. It will not stay open long.”
