AI threat similar to nuclear war risk: says UN chief

The UN chief has voiced concern over artificial intelligence, saying it represents an "existential threat to humanity on a par with the risk of nuclear war".

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres made the comments today, citing warnings from experts.

"Alarm bells over the latest form of artificial intelligence - generative AI - are deafening," Guterres told a news conference, adding that they were the "loudest from the developers who designed it".

Guterres said the UN was considering setting up a new global watchdog agency on artificial intelligence, along the lines of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which promotes "safe, secure and peaceful nuclear technologies".

The UN is already working on an advisory body for global cooperation on AI technology that is "trustworthy, human rights-based, safe and sustainable".

But the exponential surge in AI use since the emergence of apps such as ChatGPT has lent urgency to the UN's plans. Concerns over the spread of disinformation, including fake imagery made by generative AI, are growing.

"New technology is moving at warp speed," Mr Guterres told reporters. "And so are the threats that come with it."

The Secretary-General was speaking at the launch of a new UN digital policy brief. He told reporters that generative AI must not "distract us from the damage digital technology is already doing".

"The proliferation of hate and lies in the digital space is causing grave global harm - now," Guterres said, citing the impact of disinformation on UN agency work in the field such as peacekeeping missions.

The UN wants to see an international effort to create a code of conduct and "guardrails to help governments come together around guidelines that promote facts, while exposing conspiracies and lies, and safeguarding freedom of expression and information".

But at the UN, member states often cannot agree on what the truth is - or what constitutes a lie or conspiracy. As one diplomat put it, "One country’s disinformation is another’s truth".

In the Security Council, where the world’s most powerful countries meet, for example, members frequently accuse each other of telling lies.

So in such a divided world, who will be the arbiter of truth under the new proposals?

Mr Guterres said that everyone including governments, digital platforms, civil society, advertisers, and internet users themselves had a role to play.

Asked by RTÉ News if there was a risk that governments - especially authoritarian governments - could use these guidelines as a pretext to crack down on legitimate journalistic enquiry, Guterres said that it was essential to support and protect independent media.

"Our position has been very clear in condemning strongly all violations of human rights of journalists and this is an area where we will go on very actively condemning," Mr Guterres said.