United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned world leaders on Wednesday (September 16) about “AI risks,” saying that rapidly advancing artificial intelligence poses risks that cannot be ignored, Reuters reported. However, US President Donald Trump has a different view on the risks of artificial intelligence, arguing that existing safeguards are sufficient.
The United Nations General Assembly will be held in New York next week, where heads of state and government from around the world will participate. Guterres said the need for stronger oversight would be a key focus of his discussions with leaders in New York, according to Reuters.
“It’s the first responsibility of any government to protect its citizens, including from the threats of artificial intelligence,” he said.
Jacob Coxon’s resignation from Anthropic has sparked worldwide fears about the potential dangers of AI. After resigning, he made several warnings about AI, including one that “people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade.”
Even the CEO of Anthropic called for “Slower AI Development,” and OpenAI’s Sam Altman and xAI’s Elon Musk agreed with him. AI-linked stocks fell on Monday after the call from tech leaders, including OpenAI’s investor SoftBank.
After Coxon left and the leaders of the biggest companies called for a slowdown in AI development, Trump took a different stance. “We’re leading China in AI,” Trump said, according to Reuters. “We’re the most sophisticated country in the world, and frankly I want to keep it that way because whoever wins, AI wins.”
Reuters reported that diplomats said the UN Security Council may also hold a meeting on artificial intelligence at the annual summit of world leaders in New York next week.
Guterres called on countries at the forefront of AI to build communication systems with each other, share information on artificial intelligence, and create some common guardrails. He also called on countries to work together and avoid competition to reduce the risk of major disasters in the future.
