{
  "id": 10808891,
  "title": "Singapore Foreign Minister warns it’s too late to pause AI development, says global cooperation for safeguards must begin now",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/29/singapore-foreign-minister-warns-its-too-late-to-pause-ai-development",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-09-29T22:40:57.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Independent Singapore",
    "slug": "the-independent-singapore",
    "url": "https://theindependent.sg/singapore-foreign-minister-warns-it-s-too-late-to-pause-ai-development-says-global-cooperation-for-safeguards-must-begin-now"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Singapore's Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan warned at the United Nations that it is too late to pause the development of artificial intelligence (AI), as the technology's capabilities are advancing faster than people's understanding of the associated risks. Speaking on September 26, Balakrishnan called for nations to create new rules together and be prepared to establish new institutions for doing so if necessary, given the rapid progression of AI.\n\nIn his speech, Balakrishnan highlighted three main categories of risk associated with AI. Firstly, the loss of control over autonomous systems. Secondly, rogue actors potentially using AI to create bioweapons or other weapons of mass destruction or mass disruption. Lastly, economic, social, political, and domestic disruptions are only just emerging, he said.\n\nBalakrishnan stressed that it is no longer feasible to halt AI development due to several factors, including superpower rivalry and the significant financial incentives for companies already possessing frontier models. He emphasized that the genie is already out of the bottle and urged all options to be explored, including a UN framework convention on AI safeguards.\n\nBalakrishnan expressed the importance of humans remaining in control and accountable, using a thought experiment to illustrate his point: would one prefer the nuclear button to be in the hands of a human or AI? Toward the end of his address, Balakrishnan called for laying the groundwork for global cooperation on AI, emphasizing that it must begin now. Similarly, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also stressed the need for a common international legal framework for AI during his UN speech.\n\nEarlier in the month, several prominent industry leaders had called for a slowdown in AI development, citing substantial, perhaps even existential, safety risks. However, United States President Donald Trump dismissed AI safety concerns as a hoax earlier in the month.",
  "summary": "'There was also considerable interest this year on Artificial Intelligence (AI) – both the promise and the peril that it presents, and a whole variety of ideas were presented to deal with the challenges and the dangers of AI,' he said",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}