UN rights chief warns advanced AI could pose existential threat
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk called for binding AI safety guarantees and internationally agreed red lines.
Geneva, Switzerland. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk warned on Monday that advanced artificial intelligence could become powerful enough to threaten humanity and said he would urge companies to reduce the risks.
Speaking to the UN Human Rights Council ahead of the start of his second term next month, Turk called for urgent safeguards on AI safety and security.
Call for safeguards
“I share the concerns of industry insiders that advanced AI could pose an existential risk to humanity,” Turk told the council.
“I am calling here, today, for an all-out effort to put cast iron guarantees in place around the safety and security of AI, before it is too late.”
Power concentrated among few
Without naming companies, Turk warned that a small number of men held “almost unlimited power over AI”. Major AI companies include Meta, Anthropic, OpenAI and Google.
“At a minimum, we need countries hosting AI and those involved in its supply chains to come together around agreed red lines,” he said.
Previous UN efforts
Turk’s remarks echoed earlier warnings by artificial intelligence executives, including OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman, about the risk of human extinction from AI.
The United Nations has called for harmonised rules to reduce AI-related risks and held its first global meeting on AI governance in July.
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