GENEVA — The UN human rights chief warned on Monday that artificial intelligence could become powerful enough to threaten humanity, and said he would urge companies in the coming days to reduce the risks.“I share the concerns of industry insiders that advanced AI could pose an existential risk to humanity,” Volker Turk told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva in a sweeping speech ahead of the start of his second term next month.“I am calling here, today, for an all-out effort to put cast iron guarantees in place around the safety and security of AI, before it is too late," Turk said, warning advanced AI could pose an “existential risk to humanity.”"At a minimum, we need countries hosting AI and those involved in its supply chains to come together around agreed red lines," he said.According to Turk, he would write to AI companies in the coming days, urging them to take immediate steps to reduce risks.Without naming them, Turk warned that “a handful of men” wield “almost unlimited power over AI” and argued that delays in establishing effective governance benefit major technology companies, their owners and enablers.Top AI companies include Meta, Anthropic, OpenAI and Google.Pointing to concerns about increasingly powerful systems, Turk said AI that can escape its testing environment or blackmail developers to prevent itself from being switched off is “AI that is too powerful.”He also called for greater attention to AI’s human rights implications, including its effects on employment practices, fundamental principles of democracy and the environment.Turk acknowledged recent international progress, including the establishment of the Global Dialogue on AI and the Independent International Scientific Panel on AI, but said governments and companies need to listen to growing public concerns about the technology.Turk's remarks echoed prior warnings from top artificial intelligence executives themselves about extinction risks from AI, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. The United Nations has called for harmonised rules to reduce the risks and held its first global meeting on governance in July.
