UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned world leaders that rapidly advancing artificial intelligence poses risks that cannot be ignored, affirming that global coordination is essential to “slow down AI.” “We cannot afford to ignore concerns that have been raised, especially by those on the front lines of the development of AI,” said Guterres. “It’s the first responsibility of any government to protect its citizens – including from the threats of artificial intelligence.” Speaking on Wednesday ahead of next week's UN General Assembly gathering in New York, Guterres underscored that AI will be “a major topic” in his discussions with world leaders coming to the city. This comes amid rising calls for stricter control on the technology that is growing at lightning speed and not without dangerous precedents. In her State of the Union address to the European Parliament on Wednesday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called for pacing the development of frontier AI models due to their disruptive potential, pledging closer safety cooperation with Canada, the UK and other like-minded countries. She hailed AI's potential to benefit humanity, provided its risks and opportunities are properly balanced. Last Saturday, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei also called for a slowdown in the industry's development, with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, xAI's Elon Musk and Hassabis all supporting the sentiment. The calls have gone unanswered by the administration of US President Donald Trump. Comparing AI development to the Cold War-era arms race between the US and Soviet Union, the UN Secretary-General called for cooperation between countries at the forefront of AI – including the US and China – to slow down AI development while risks continue to be assessed. “The countries that have the highest capacity in the frontiers of AI – I think they should establish mechanisms of contact, have an exchange of information and (create) some common guardrails in order to avoid a race to the bottom that could one day lead to a gigantic disaster at the global level,” Guterres said. With the scientific and diplomatic mechanisms now in place, the UN will continue to work to turn that cooperation into concrete action as AI becomes increasingly powerful.
