UN chief Guterres, AI must be shaped by all of humanity, not a handful of powers

[Shane]

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, UN Secretary-General António Guterres described AI as humanity's greatest opportunity in the 21st century, while cautioning it could also become one of its greatest risks. Technology that will shape the future of humanity must be shaped by all of humanity, he said, insisting that AI governance cannot be left to a handful of countries or companies and that every nation needs a seat at the table

Guterres pointed to a stark statistic underlying his concern, one third of humanity is still offline entirely, while computing power, technical expertise and investment remain heavily concentrated in a small number of countries and companies. Left unaddressed, he warned, that imbalance risks producing greater inequalities in income, opportunity and security rather than the broad based progress AI could otherwise deliver, accelerating medical breakthroughs, transforming education and strengthening food systems along the way

He laid out three specific priorities, expanding AI capacity in developing countries so they can build systems using their own data, languages and expertise rather than depending entirely on outside technology, establishing international safety standards grounded in international law, and making AI more environmentally sustainable, specifically calling on major AI companies to disclose their systems' environmental footprint and run on renewable energy by 2030. He was direct about certain lines that shouldn't move regardless of how the technology develops, human rights must be protected, humans must keep control over every life and death decision, and no AI system should be put in a child's hands before it has been proven safe

To help close the gap in practical terms, Guterres said more than 20 countries, including China, have already nominated centres for a UN backed Global Network for Exchange and Cooperation on AI Capacity Building, and announced he'll soon present recommendations for a new Global Fund for AI, calling on governments to back both efforts. The speech built on the UN's Global Digital Compact and its Independent International Scientific Panel on AI, and followed the first session of the Global Dialogue on AI Governance held in Geneva earlier this month, part of a broader UN push over the past year to keep AI governance from becoming something only the most powerful nations and companies get to define

Guterres: AI must be shaped by 'all of humanity', not a handful of powersnews.un.org

[NeonSpectre72]

One third of humanity still being offline entirely is such an important number to sit with, it reframes the whole AI governance debate away from just US versus China and toward a much bigger global access gap