UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned on Monday that artificial intelligence is evolving faster than anyone can keep up with, urging the need for globally coordinated rules to mitigate potential risks, particularly those threatening children.
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"A technology that can reshape economies, transform the world of work, sway elections, and tilt the balance of security is being deployed faster than anyone—including the people building it—can keep up," Guterres told delegates participating in the first intergovernmental Global Dialogue on AI Governance, held in Geneva.
He added: "Innovation needs guardrails. If AI is to be powerful, it must be governed."
The goal of the first two-day UN Global Dialogue on AI Governance is not to draft a treaty, but rather to discuss how to establish rules to curb the potential harms of AI and leverage the opportunities it presents.
Delegates will review a report prepared by an independent, UN-backed scientific panel consisting of 40 experts who will present the findings of the first independent global scientific assessment of AI.
A more comprehensive report is scheduled for release next year, coinciding with a second global meeting in New York.
Guterres stressed that coordinated global rules on artificial intelligence must prioritize children's safety, following reports of minors being exposed to self-harm and deception by fake friends that are actually machines.
"We do not allow any medicine to reach a child before its safety is proven," he said. "Yet, AI reached our children—their learning, friendships, and most private questions—before anyone questioned its impact on them."
He called for a child-safety pledge that would obligate companies developing AI systems to prove their safety before making them available to children.
Furthermore, systems must be blocked from generating sexual images of children, and if a system detects a child showing signs of distress, it should pause and connect the child with a professional to provide assistance.
Guterres also warned against the concentration of the most advanced AI systems in the hands of a small number of companies and nations, meaning that developing countries have very little say in the evolution of AI.
