United Nations Wants to Treat AI with the Same Urgency as Climate Change

A United Nations report released today suggests that an international body oversee the first global effort to monitor and manage artificial intelligence.

The report, produced by the United Nations Secretary General’s High-Level Advisory Unit on AI, recommends the creation of a body similar to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to gather the latest information on AI and its risks.

The report calls for a new policy discussion on AI so that the 193 UN members can discuss the risks and agree on measures. It also suggests that the UN take steps to empower poor countries, especially those in the global south, to benefit from AI and contribute to their governance. This should include, it says, creating an AI fund to fund projects in these countries, establishing AI standards and data sharing systems, and creating resources such as training to help countries with AI governance. Some of the report’s recommendations could be implemented by the Global Digital Compact, an existing plan to address the digital and data divide between nations. Finally it proposes the creation of an AI office within the UN dedicated to coordinating existing efforts within the UN to meet the report’s objectives.

“You have the international community acknowledging that there are both risks and dangers and opportunities presented by AI,” said Alondra Nelson, a professor at the Institute for Advanced Study who served on the UN’s White House advisory body. Department of Home and State.

The impressive capabilities demonstrated by examples of large languages ​​and chatbots in recent years have raised hopes of a revolution in economic productivity but have also prompted some experts to warn that AI may develop too quickly and may soon become difficult to control. Not long after ChatGPT appeared, many scientists and entrepreneurs signed a letter calling for a six-month halt in the development of the technology to assess the risks.

Other immediate concerns include the potential for AI to generate lethal data, produce fake video and audio, replace workers en masse, and amplify society’s algorithmic biases on an industrial scale. “There is a sense of urgency, and people feel that we need to work together,” said Nelson.

The UN’s proposals reflect a growing interest among policymakers around the world in managing AI to reduce these risks. But it also comes as major powers—especially the United States and China—scramble to take the lead in technologies that promise huge economic, scientific, and military benefits, and as these nations express their own ideas about how they should be used and controlled.

In March, the United States introduced a resolution at the UN calling on member states to adopt the development of “safe, secure, and reliable” AI. In July, China unveiled its resolution that emphasized cooperation in AI development and making the technology widely available. All UN member states have signed both conventions.

“AI is part of the US-China competition, so there is only so much they will agree on,” said Joshua Meltzer, an expert at the Brookings Institute, a Washington, DC, think tank. The main differences, he says, include what norms and standards AI should incorporate and the protections surrounding privacy and personal data.