UN Chief Sounds Alarm as AI Outpaces Global Safeguards

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres is warning that artificial intelligence is advancing faster than governments can regulate it. He is calling for global rules to protect children and prevent the technology from causing widespread harm.

Speaking Monday at the first-ever U.N. Global Dialogue on AI Governance in Geneva, Guterres said AI is transforming economies, reshaping the workforce, influencing elections and affecting global security, but is being deployed without adequate oversight.

“Innovation needs guardrails. If AI is to be powerful, it must be governed,” Guterres told delegates.

A major focus of his address was protecting children. He proposed an AI Child Safety Pledge that would require companies to prove their AI systems are safe before making them available to minors. He also called for strict safeguards to prevent AI from generating sexually explicit images of children and urged developers to ensure AI systems can recognize when a child is in distress and connect them with a human for help.

“We do not let medicine reach a child until it is proven safe. We test every toy. Yet AI has reached our children before anyone asked what it would do to them,” Guterres said.

The two-day meeting brings together governments, experts and technology leaders to discuss international cooperation on AI governance. While no treaty is expected, delegates will review the first independent global scientific assessment of AI, prepared by a U.N.-backed panel of 40 experts.

The report highlights the growing concentration of AI development, with the United States accounting for about 75 percent of the computing power behind the world’s top 500 AI supercomputers and China controlling another 15 percent. It also warns that many developing countries are falling behind in AI adoption and have little influence over how the technology evolves.

Guterres stressed that while AI has enormous potential in areas such as healthcare and education, governments must act quickly to establish global standards before the technology outpaces human oversight.