The Secretary General of the United Nations (UN), Antonio Guterres, yesterday urged “global coordination” on artificial intelligence and warned of “a race to the bottom” when multiple calls arise for this technology to be regulated.
“Governments must take their responsibilities. The first is to protect their citizens, including from threats related to artificial intelligence,” the UN chief said. He added that this will be “a topic of discussion” at the General Assembly being held next week in New York.
“AI has enormous potential to accelerate sustainable development, improve learning, strengthen health systems, boost climate resilience and much more,” he said. “But a growing number of its developers are sounding the alarm, warning that progress is happening faster than our understanding of the risks. The world cannot afford a race to the bottom on AI safety,” he warned.
Likewise, Ivonne A-Baki, nominated to succeed Guterres, called for AI to be regulated like nuclear weapons.
“We are almost on the verge of a third world war… and it is a more dangerous one. This time it will not only be the nuclear danger, but also AI,” A-Baki told Afp, whose close ties with Donald Trump, forged during several stages as Ecuador’s ambassador in Washington, could help her distinguish herself among the eight candidates to lead the UN.
A-Baki stressed that an agreement on the future of artificial intelligence between Washington and Beijing would be essential to protect humanity.
“President Trump and his counterpart Xi Jinping (…) should not compete. They should cooperate.”
For his part, Pope Leo XIV once again warned against the temptation to delegate decisions that fall solely to human responsibility to algorithms, in a context of growing concern about the drifts of AI.
In May, the American pontiff dedicated his first encyclical, Great humanity (Magnificent humanity), to AI with a call to “disarm” this technology to “prevent it from dominating the human.”