UN Secretary-General Guterres warned on the 6th that the development of artificial intelligence (AI) has surpassed the speed that anyone can keep up with, and called for the establishment of global norms to mitigate potential risks, especially to protect children and adolescents.
Speaking at the United Nations' first government-level global AI dialogue in Geneva, he said: "This technology has the power to reshape economies, change the nature of work, sway elections, and disrupt security balances. Its development is moving so fast that even developers, among others, are struggling to keep pace."
He pointed out that innovation needs guardrails—and if AI is to unleash its tremendous power, it must be subject to governance.
The UN is hosting its first global dialogue on AI governance, hoping that, during this two-day conference, participants can discuss how to establish norms to reduce AI's potential harms and leverage the opportunities it brings. Conference delegates will review a report from an independent scientific panel of 40 experts supported by the United Nations. This is the first globally independent scientific assessment of AI. A more comprehensive report is planned for next year, and a second global conference is expected to be held in New York.
Guterres said: "It took the Internet 15 years to reach 1 billion people, but AI only took 2 years. Before anyone had studied what kind of impact AI might have on children, it had already reached our kids, becoming involved in their learning, their friendships, and their most private concerns."
He stated that, following incidents where minors were led towards self-harm and deceived by AI pretending to be friends, any global AI norms must put children's safety first.
Guterres stressed that systems should not be permitted to generate child sexual abuse images. When a child exhibits signs of distress, the system should cease operation and refer the child to a real person for support.
He also warned that the most advanced AI systems are concentrated in the hands of a few companies and countries, meaning that developing countries have virtually no say in AI's development and are at risk of being left behind.
The independent report from scientific experts found that AI development is even more concentrated. Of the world's top 500 AI supercomputers, the United States accounts for 75% of computing power, while China accounts for 15%.