UN calls for urgent action to rein in AI risks
The United Nations rights chief has called for countries and "frontier" artificial intelligence companies to act urgently to rein in a technology he warned posed "unprecedented risks".
United Nations rights chief Volker Türk has urged countries and frontier artificial intelligence companies to take immediate action to curb the risks posed by rapidly advancing AI technology. Türk warned that the world is on the brink of irreversible change affecting generations of humanity, with the current race toward ever more powerful AI systems posing unprecedented existential risks.
Türk's call for urgent international cooperation comes as concerns over AI risks have intensified, after several researchers resigned or publicly expressed alarm over potential human control loss within the next decade. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has called for AI companies to "pace the frontier" or coordinate a slowdown in development, with xAI's Elon Musk and OpenAI's Sam Altman publicly supporting his stance.
Türk emphasized that the current reliance on a few powerful companies to make AI development decisions for all humanity underscores the need for urgent multilateral action grounded in international human rights law. US President Donald Trump, while acknowledging the need for some regulation, downplayed the urgency, attributing warnings about AI's rapid development to "negative forces" he did not identify, and suggesting that slowing progress could cede America's technological edge over China.
Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to discuss AI with Trump later in September, with the technology likely to be a key topic of conversation.
Written by urgent.news from RTE News's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
