United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned that artificial intelligence is developing faster than governments and regulators can manage, calling for globally coordinated rules to reduce risks and ensure the technology is used safely, particularly by children.
Speaking at the first government-level UN Global Dialogue on AI Governance in Geneva on Monday, Guterres said the rapid growth of AI posed significant challenges for societies, economies and political systems.
“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, including the people building it, can keep up,” he told delegates.
“Innovation needs guardrails … If AI is to be powerful, it must be governed.”
A central theme of Guterres' remarks was the impact of AI on children, echoing concerns increasingly raised by international organisations and child welfare advocates.
The UN chief pointed to cases where minors had allegedly been encouraged towards self-harm or deceived by AI systems posing as friends or trusted companions.
“We do not let medicine reach a child until it is proven safe. We test every toy. Yet AI has reached our children – their learning, their friendships, their most private questions – before anyone asked what it would do to them,” he said.
Guterres proposed the creation of an AI Child Safety Pledge that would require technology companies to demonstrate that their systems are safe before making them available to young users.
He also argued that AI systems should be prohibited from generating sexual images involving children and should be designed to refer vulnerable users to human support services when signs of distress are detected.
The comments reflect growing concerns about the way young people are interacting with AI-powered tools.
Last month, UNICEF warned that children are increasingly growing up inside what it described as an AI “experiment”, with adoption of generative AI technology accelerating faster than safeguards and regulations. The organisation raised concerns about misinformation, manipulation, deepfakes, online exploitation and the influence of AI on children's development and wellbeing.
UNICEF also noted that many children are already using AI tools for advice, learning and companionship, often without fully understanding the risks involved.
The agency called for child-centred rules and stronger oversight to ensure technology companies place children's safety at the centre of AI development.
The two-day UN meeting in Geneva is not intended to produce a treaty but aims to build international consensus on how AI should be governed.
Delegates are considering findings from a UN-backed independent scientific panel comprising 40 experts. The group has produced what the organisation describes as the first global and independent scientific assessment of artificial intelligence.
A more comprehensive report is expected next year, alongside a second global gathering in New York.
Guterres warned that governments and international institutions are struggling to keep pace with technological advances.
“The internet took 15 years to reach a billion people. AI got there in two,” he said.
The UN-supported report also highlights concerns about the concentration of AI development in a small number of countries and companies.
According to the assessment, the United States accounts for 75% of the computing power among the world's top 500 AI supercomputers, while China represents another 15%.
The report found that although more than one billion people worldwide now use conversational AI systems each week, adoption remains significantly lower in many developing countries.
Guterres warned that widening disparities in access to AI could leave poorer nations without influence over technologies that are increasingly shaping the global economy.
Leaders attending the Geneva meeting stressed the importance of ensuring that developing countries are not left behind.
Libyan Presidential Council head Mohamed al-Menfi said Africa accounts for around 10% of the world's population but hosts fewer than 2% of global data centres.
“AI cannot be a legitimate resource if African countries cannot make use of it,” he said, calling for greater African involvement in setting international AI rules.
Georgian President Mikheil Kavelashvili also urged stronger international cooperation, warning that AI should not become “an instrument of totalitarian control and new digital tyranny”.
Despite the concerns, Guterres said AI also offers enormous opportunities, particularly in education, healthcare and economic development, provided countries can establish effective safeguards.
“If used well,” he said, AI could compress decades of development into years and potentially become “the great equaliser of the twenty-first century.”
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