The development of artificial intelligence, or AI, 鈥渇or the good of all鈥� requires guardrails grounded in human rights, transparency, and accountability, UN Secretary-General Ant贸nio Guterres said on Thursday.
He stressed that AI must benefit everyone, including the third of humanity who are still offline, and insisted on the need to urgently find consensus on what the guiding norms for AI deployment should be.
The UN chief was speaking at the听听organized in Geneva by the International Telecommunication Union (), bringing together governments, civil society, UN agencies, AI innovators, and investors.
The event is exploring ways in which AI can be used to help the world achieve the听Sustainable Development Goals听().
Get the SDGs back on track
At the summit, ITU Secretary-General Doreen Bogdan-Martin called for global cooperation to 鈥渆nsure AI reaches its full potential, while preventing and mitigating harms鈥�. At the mid-point towards the deadline that humanity has given itself to achieve the SDGs, the world was off-track, the ITU chief said, and using AI to accelerate progress was听now 鈥渙ur responsibility鈥�.
In an ideal scenario, Ms. Bogdan-Martin said that we would be able to successfully harness AI to find cures for diseases like cancer and Alzheimer鈥檚, step up clean energy production, and support farmers in boosting crop yields.
AI risks on the rise
But, a听dystopian future was also possible, in which AI destroyed jobs and enabled an uncontrollable spread of disinformation, or in which only wealthy countries reaped the benefits of the technology, the ITU Secretary-General said.
Earlier this year, UN human rights chief Volker T眉rk听听about the rapid and unchecked advances in generative AI. He said that 鈥渉uman agency, human dignity, and all human rights are at serious risk鈥�, calling for governments and businesses to anchor the technology鈥檚 development in rights considerations.
A 鈥榟istoric鈥� moment
The ITU chief stressed that the AI Summit was taking place at a 鈥渉istoric鈥� moment when it was crucial to push for听AI governance and ensure its inclusive, safe, and responsible deployment.
鈥淭he future of AI has yet to be written,鈥� she said.
Innovative robots
More than听听will be present at the Summit as part of a 鈥淩obotics for Good鈥� exhibition. Their inventors will demonstrate how the robots can support people鈥檚 health, provide educational services, help persons with disabilities, reduce waste, and assist emergency response in disasters.
A number of humanoid robots were billed as 鈥渟peakers鈥� at the event, and their capabilities as caregivers and companions for elderly people were on display.
A press conference is due to take place on Friday where some of the humanoid robots will be taking questions.
