UN Security Council debates risks, benefits of AI: 'Responsibility to future generations'
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The United Nations Security Council held its first discussion on AI Tuesday. The meeting was chaired by Britain's foreign secretary. The U.K. is the council president for July.
"The malicious use of AI systems for terrorist, criminal or state purposes could cause horrific levels of deaths and destruction, widespread trauma and deep psychological damage on an unimaginable scale," U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in his remarks at the meeting. "Generative AI has enormous potential for good and evil at scale."
"Its creators themselves have warned that much bigger, potentially catastrophic and existential risks lie ahead," he added. "Without action to address these risks, we are derelict in our responsibilities to present and future generations."
"We, therefore, welcome this discussion to understand how the Council can find the right balance between maximizing AI’s benefits while mitigating its risks," he stressed, urging collaboration with private industry and activists, as "experiences have taught us success comes from working with a range of actors."
"AI will fundamentally alter every aspect of human life," he said, focusing on the ability to "enhance or disrupt global strategic stability."
"That’s why we urgently need to shape the global governance of transformative technologies," he added. "Because AI knows no borders."
"In that spirit, let us work together to ensure peace and security as we pass across the threshold of an unfamiliar world," he concluded.
Not all countries pursued such a utopian view, with the Chinese government arguing the U.N. rules must reflect the views of developing countries, claiming that some "developed countries" have rushed to control AI.
"Certain developed countries, in order to seek technological hegemony, make efforts to build their exclusive small clubs and maliciously obstruct the technological development of other countries and artificially create technological barriers," Chinese Ambassador Zhang Jun said. "China firmly opposes these behaviors."
Other speakers included representatives from Japan, Mozambique and the United Arab Emirates.
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