From artificial intelligence to killer robots: UN Secretary-General calls for urgent global governance

In his speech during the opening of the first UN Global Dialogue on Artificial Intelligence Governance in Geneva on Monday, the Secretary-General also stressed the need to make this revolutionary technology available to the billions of people who are still deprived of access to it.

Guterres stressed that any future international agreement should be “worthy of the world’s trust” and put safety first, especially the safety of children, to protect them from manipulation and abuse resulting from digitally generated content.

The President of the United Nations General Assembly, Annalena Baerbock, echoed this call, calling for collective action to confront the “dark” side of artificial intelligence. She pointed out that reports indicate that about 99 percent of deepfake clips and techniques are of a sexual nature, and that 96 percent of them target women and girls.

Bridging the digital divide

The Secretary-General explained that one of the main priorities for establishing a global system of oversight and accountability in the field of artificial intelligence is to ensure that developing countries have access to this advanced technology, in addition to operating all artificial intelligence data centers with renewable energy by 2030.

He added that artificial intelligence “lies at the heart of our common future,” but stressed that the desired future is one in which “machines contribute information, while the final decision and responsibility remain with humans.”

Guterres thus renewed his call, which he made for the first time before the United Nations General Assembly in 2017, to establish international rules regulating the development and use of artificial intelligence.

During the three years that followed the widespread spread of artificial intelligence, this technology brought about a radical transformation in economies and societies, carrying with it great opportunities and great challenges at the same time.

In this context, the United Nations led international efforts to formulate a global framework for the governance of artificial intelligence, which culminated in the holding of the first global dialogue on the governance of artificial intelligence in Geneva.

Representatives of technology companies, researchers, technical experts, and civil society organizations, in addition to former classical composer and multimedia electronic artist Gadi Sasson, participated in the meeting to discuss ways to make humans the center of this transformative technology.

The second edition of the dialogue is scheduled to be held in May 2027 in New York City.

Amandeep Singh Gill, UN Special Envoy for Digital and Emerging Technologies, said: “AI is so important that its future cannot be shaped by a few parties. We need an inclusive global dialogue based on evidence and facts.”

For his part, Yoshua Bengio, co-chair of the independent international scientific group on artificial intelligence, confirmed that there are no indications that the pace of development of this technology is slowing down.

He added that recent tests have raised great concern after they showed that advanced artificial intelligence models have become capable of deceiving humans, and even realizing that they are being tested.

Bengio expected that the level of intelligence of these models will continue to rise, saying: “It may sound like science fiction, but it is a real possibility, and it may change the world in ways that we do not yet understand, and it may also reshape the balance of power on our planet in a way that requires serious attention.”

Timeline for regulation of artificial intelligence

🔹2017: In the first early call for regulation of artificial intelligence, Secretary-General Guterres praised the enormous potential of this revolutionary technology, but also warned the General Assembly of its potential impact on jobs, global security, and the basic fabric of societies.

🔹2023: The United Nations High-Level Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence launched a call for the establishment of a global system for the governance of self-learning AI technologies.

🔹2024: The Future Charter and the Global Digital Charter provide the necessary mandate to develop a global model for AI governance.

🔹June 2026: The United Nations independent international scientific group on artificial intelligence warns that artificial intelligence may “cause catastrophic damage, whether on its own or as a result of its misuse by malicious actors,” noting that the development of technology “precedes scientific understanding and the ability of governments to adapt.”

🔹July 6–7, 2026: The first UN Global Dialogue on Artificial Intelligence Governance was held in conjunction with the AI ​​for Good Summit in Geneva, which Guterres stressed “must now give the world the necessary guidance on how to move forward.”

A force for equal opportunities

The UN Secretary-General said that artificial intelligence, if used properly and made widely available, “could reduce decades of development to a few years” and become the greatest tool for closing gaps in the 21st century.

He added that achieving this requires first subjecting this technology to rigorous tests to ensure its safety, while clearly defining legal responsibility, saying:

“When countries agree on how to test systems, measure risks, and assign responsibilities, safety follows technology wherever it goes. When it doesn’t, a disparate and incompatible set of rules increases costs, deepens global division, and protects no one.”

Guterres stressed that the safety and well-being of children must be a priority in any future agreement to govern artificial intelligence, calling on countries to adopt a global pledge to protect children from the dangers of artificial intelligence.

And he said: “No child should be a guinea pig for unregulated AI… We don’t allow any drug to be used on children until it’s proven safe. We test every toy before we release it, and yet AI has reached our children, their education, their friendships, and their most intimate questions, before anyone can ask what it might do to them.”

What is the Child Protection Pledge?

Under the UN Pledge to Protect Children, developers of AI systems will have to prove that:

🔹Technology safety: No company should launch an AI system that children can use without conducting safety testing specifically for children and subjecting it to independent oversight.

🔹Zero tolerance for sexual exploitation: No company should allow its systems to produce sexual images of children, and must detect, report, and remove such content immediately.

🔹Response to cases of psychological distress: If a child shows signs of suffering or distress, “the system must stop interacting and connect him to real human support,” the Secretary-General said.

He added: “When a child is harmed, the answer should never be: ‘The algorithm did that.’”

Human rights are a priority

Guterres stressed that Human rights are the second priority in regulating AI, and are non-negotiable.

And he said: “AI must not rob humans of their dignity, or entrench discrimination. In all crucial decisions, whether in the judiciary, healthcare or law enforcement, machines can provide information, but the final decision and accountability must remain with humans.”

Public funding for AI ‘very little’

The Secretary-General called for increasing government investment in artificial intelligence, noting that private sector investments in artificial intelligence infrastructure amount to about $500 trillion, while public funding allocated to building artificial intelligence capabilities in developing countries represents, in comparison, only “a very small portion.”

To help bridge this gap, he announced that more than 20 countries have supported his initiative to create a global network to exchange experiences and collaborate on capacity building in the field of artificial intelligence, with the support of the United Nations.

He said: “We cannot allow the digital divide to turn into a gap in artificial intelligence, and then turn this gap into a gap in development, security, or sovereignty.”

A call for transparency

The Secretary-General renewed his call to Require all major AI companies to measure and publicly disclose the full environmental impact of their systemsincluding carbon emissions, water consumption, and land use, with a commitment to operate all data centers with renewable energy by the year 2030.

“AI may seem intangible, but its environmental footprint is not,” he said.

He pointed out that Data centers consume more electricity than most countries in the worldHe added: “By 2030, data centers may consume more electricity than all but five countries in the world, and may consume enough water to meet the needs of the entire population of sub-Saharan Africa, numbering 1.3 billion people, for an entire year.”

In this context, highlight United Nations Environmental Transparency in Artificial Intelligence Initiativewhich aims to enhance disclosure of the environmental impacts of this technology.