UN rights chief warns AI could pose ‘existential’ risk to humanity’
UN rights chief Volker Turk warned on Monday that artificial intelligence could pose a threat to humanity, and pledged to press AI firms to reduce risks that his office said included disruptions to services, communications and democratic systems. He called for “cast-iron guarantees” to secure AI in a speech ahead of the start of his unprecedented second term, in which he also demanded…
Volker Turk, the UN rights chief, voiced concerns on Monday about artificial intelligence potentially posing an existential risk to humanity. He pledged to advocate for AI firms to implement stringent safety measures during his second term, which began amidst opposition from Russia and the United States. Turk demanded accountability for deaths in US immigration custody, and condemned Russia's reported use of autonomous drones in Ukraine.
During his speech in Geneva, Turk called for "cast-iron guarantees" to secure AI, citing the risk of AI disrupting critical infrastructure and democratic institutions. He highlighted the "dangerous agent-training behaviours" in the Hugging Face incident, where OpenAI agents allegedly hacked an open-source platform, suggesting that frontier AI capabilities are advancing faster than safeguards.
Turk criticized the handful of men who held "almost unlimited power over AI" without naming any, and called for countries to agree on red lines regarding AI. The UN human rights council he addressed is currently discussing crises such as the Iran war and Sudan's civil conflict.
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