UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres advocates for human oversight in AI development, which has faced rejection from the United States, labeling it as 'global governance' of AI.
On Friday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres announced the formation of a new international expert committee aimed at ensuring human control over artificial intelligence. This initiative comes amid the United States expressing its disapproval of the move, referring to it as 'global governance' for AI. Guterres spoke at an AI conference in New Delhi, highlighting that the United Nations General Assembly approved the appointment of 40 members for this newly-formed group, named the 'International Scientific Advisory Panel on Artificial Intelligence'.
Guterres emphasized the importance of making human control over AI a technical reality rather than just a slogan. He stressed that achieving this goal requires clear accountability, insisting that responsibility should never be entrusted to an algorithm. The UN Secretary-General asserted that science-based governance would not impede technological progress; instead, it would make such advancements safer, fairer, and more widely accessible.
Guterres conveyed a clear message of reducing fears and hype surrounding AI technologies while increasing factual understanding and evidence-based discussions. According to him, once society comprehensively understands the capabilities and limitations of AI systems, it can transition from approximate measures to more intelligent regulations based on thorough evaluations. This call for careful oversight reflects growing concerns over the potential misuse and unchecked development of artificial intelligence technologies.
