Just a few years ago, artificial intelligence got barely a mention at the U.N. General Assembly’s convocation of world leaders.
But after the release of ChatGPT last fall turbocharged both excitement and anxieties about AI, it’s been a sizzling topic this year at diplomacy’s biggest yearly gathering.
Presidents, premiers, monarchs and cabinet ministers convened as governments at various levels are mulling or have already passed AI regulation. Industry heavy-hitters acknowledge guardrails are needed but want to protect the technology’s envisioned benefits. Outsiders and even some insiders warn that there also are potentially catastrophic risks, and everyone says there’s no time to lose.
And many eyes are on the United Nations as perhaps the only place to tackle the issue at scale.
The world body has some unique attributes to offer, including unmatched breadth and a track record of brokering pacts on global issues, and it’s set to launch an AI advisory board this fall.
“Having a convergence, a common understanding of the risks, that would be a very important outcome,” U.N. tech policy chief Amandeep Gill said in an interview. He added that it would be very valuable to reach a common understanding on what kind of governance works, or might, to minimize risks and maximize opportunities for good.
A CONVERSATION THAT IS GAINING MOMENTUM
As recently as 2017, only three speakers brought up AI at the assembly meeting’s equivalent of a main stage, the “ General Debate.” This year, more than 20 speakers did so, representing countries from Namibia to North Macedonia, Argentina to East Timor.
Secretary-General António Guterres teased plans to appoint members this month to the advisory board, with preliminary recommendations due by year’s end — warp speed, by U.N. standards.
Lesotho’s premier, Sam Matekane, worried about threats to privacy and safety, Nepalese Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal about potential misuse of AI, and Icelandic Foreign Minister Thórdís Kolbrún R. Gylfadóttir about the technology “becoming a tool of destruction.” Britain hyped its upcoming “AI Safety Summit,” while Spain pitched itself as an eager host for a potential international agency for AI and Israel touted its technological chops as a prospective developer of helpful AI.
Days after U.S. senators discussed AI behind closed doors with tech bigwigs and skeptics, President Joe Biden said Washington is working “to make sure we govern this technology — not the other way around, having it govern us.”
And with the General Assembly as a center of gravity, there were so many AI-policy panel discussions and get-togethers around New York last week that attendees sometimes raced from one to another.
“The most important meetings that we are having are the meetings at the U.N. — because it is the only body that is inclusive, that brings all of us here,” Omar Al-Olama, the United Arab Emirates’ minister for artificial intelligence, said at a U.N.-sponsored event featuring four high-ranking officials from various countries. It drew such interest that a half-dozen of their counterparts offered comments from the audience.
Tech industry players have made sure they’re in the mix during the U.N.’s big week, too.
“What’s really encouraging is that there’s so much global interest in how to get this right — and the U.N. is in a position to help harmonize all the conversations” and work to ensure all voices get heard, says James Manyika, a senior vice president at Google. The tech giant helped develop a new, artificial intelligence-enabled U.N. site for searching data and tracking progress on the world body’s key goals.
LOTS OF PEOPLE TALKING, BUT PERHAPS A SLOW PROCESS
But if the United Nations has advantages, it also has the challenges of a big-tent, consensus-seeking ethos that often moves slowly. Plus its members are governments, while AI is being driven by an array of private companies.
Still, a global issue needs a global forum, and “the U.N. is absolutely a place to have these conversations,” says Ian Bremmer, president of the Eurasia Group, a political risk advisory firm.
