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UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Monday called for urgent global governance of artificial intelligence (AI), warning that the technology is advancing faster than the world's ability to regulate it.

AI is "advancing at runaway speed," Guterres said at the inaugural UN Global Dialogue on AI Governance in Geneva, warning that "a technology that can reshape economies, transform the world of work, sway elections, and tilt the balance of security is being deployed faster than anyone... can keep up." He cautioned that AI development outpaced oversight, describing it as "an experiment... on our own societies, without a plan, and without consent." Citing the first report by the UN Independent International Scientific Panel on AI, Guterres said the findings identified three major risks: the rapid pace of AI development, the concentration of AI power in a handful of countries and companies, and the growing threat of AI-generated misinformation.

"The question is whether we will shape this transformation together, or let it shape us," he said.

He called for global action focused on four priorities: common AI safety standards, stronger human rights protections, greater AI capacity for developing countries, and increased transparency over AI's environmental footprint.

Guterres proposed an AI Child Safety Pledge, saying, "No child should be a guinea pig for unregulated AI," and called for an international ban on lethal autonomous weapons, describing AI systems capable of selecting and attacking targets without human control as "killer robots." "They are morally repugnant. They are politically unacceptable. And they must be banned by international law," he said.

Guterres urged governments and technology companies to act before it is too late.

"We may be the last generation able to set the terms on which humanity and machines coexist," he said. "The door is still open. But it will not stay open long." //Petra// HA