From AI to ‘killer robots’: UN chief issues urgent governance call

Published 6 July 2026 · politics

Addressing the inaugural UN Global Dialogue on AI Governance in Geneva, the Secretary-General also insisted on the need for greater accessibility for the billions of

Addressing the inaugural UN Global Dialogue on AI Governance in Geneva, the Secretary-General also insisted on the need for greater accessibility for the billions of people unable to access the revolutionary tech. He insisted that any future agreement must be “worthy of global trust” and put safety first – and especially children’s - to protect them from digitally-generated manipulation and abuse. Tweet URL Echoing that call, the President of the General Assembly, Annalena Baerbock, urged collective action to counter the “sinister" side of AI, noting that a reported 99 per cent of deepfakes are sexual in nature and 96 per cent target women and girls. Narrowing the digital gap Other priorities for global checks and balances on AI should include locked-in access to the self-learning tech for developing countries, while all AI data centres should be powered by renewable energy by 2030, the UN chief stressed. Although AI “sits at the heart of our common future”, it needs to be one where “machines can inform, but humans must decide, and answer”, Mr. Guterres told the summit gathered in Geneva, echoing calls for AI rules that he first made to the General Assembly in 2017. In the three years since AI went mainstream, it has had a revolutionary impact across economies and societies, for better and for worse. Ahead of this, the UN has been leading international efforts to shape controls on the tech, culminating in Monday’s inaugural Global Dialogue on AI in Geneva. The meeting involves companies, researchers, technical experts and civil society to discuss how to put humanity at the core of the transformative technology. A second Dialogue is scheduled for May 2027 in New York.

"AI is too consequential to be shaped by a few. We need a conversation that is global, inclusive and grounded in evidence," insisted Amandeep Singh Gill, UN Special Envoy for Digital and Emerging Technologies. From the Independent International Scientific Panel on AI, co-chair Yoshua Bengio stressed that there are no signs that the speed at which the technology is developing will slow down. "Highly concerning tests have also shown that frontier AI models are capable of deceiving humans, to understand when they are being tested," he added, forecasting that the intelligence of AI will continue to grow. "It sounds like science fiction, but it's a real possibility, and it could change the world in ways that we don't understand yet, and it could change the power dynamics of our planet in ways that require our attention," he said. The AI regulation timeline 2017: In an early call for AI controls, Secretary-General Guterres hails the revolutionary tech’s “spectacular” potential. But he also warns the General Assembly of its potentially dramatic impact on jobs, global security and “the very fabric of societies”. 2023: UN chief’s High-Level Advisory Body on AI appeals for global governance of the self-learning tech. 2024: the Pact for the Future and the Global Digital Compact provide the mandate for an AI governance model. June 2026: UN Independent International Scientific Panel on Artificial Intelligence warns that AI could “cause catastrophic harm, either on its own or due to malicious users”, while the technology is “outpacing both scientific understanding and governments’ ability to adapt”. 6-7 July 2026: first UN Global Dialogue on AI Governance and AI for Good Summit convene in Geneva. These “must now give the world direction” on how to proceed, Mr. Guterres insists.