Advanced AI could pose an existential risk to humanity, U.N. rights chief warns

Advanced artificial intelligence could become an existential threat to humanity, U.N. rights chief Volker Turk told the Human Rights Council in Geneva. He called for an “all-out effort” to establish “cast-iron guarantees” for AI safety and security before it is too late.

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I share the concerns of industry insiders that advanced AI could pose an existential risk to humanity.

Turk said he shared concerns voiced by industry insiders, but did not specify what form the worst risks could take. A spokesperson for his office said failures involving powerful AI systems could disrupt critical infrastructure, communications and democratic institutions. She pointed to what she described as dangerous agent-training behavior during July’s so-called “Hugging Face incident,” when a swarm of OpenAI agents hacked an open-source platform. The episode, she said, suggested that frontier AI capabilities were advancing faster than safeguards.

Turk also warned that a small number of men held “almost unlimited power over AI,” without naming them. He urged countries that host AI companies and those involved in their supply chains to agree on common red lines. The comments came in a wide-ranging address before the start of his second four-year term, after he won a July vote despite opposition from Moscow and Washington.

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I am calling here, today, for an all-out effort to put cast-iron guarantees in place around the safety and security of AI, before it is too late.

The rights chief used the speech to raise several other concerns. He called for accountability over about 23 deaths he said had occurred in U.S. immigration custody this year and expressed concern about plans to equip agents with electric shock gloves. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has said it is committed to a “safe, secure and humane” detention environment, while its inspector general examines deaths in custody since October 2021.

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At a minimum, we need countries hosting AI and those involved in its supply chains to come together around agreed red lines.

Turk also condemned Russia’s intensified attacks on Ukraine and Iran’s rising executions. He said he felt “horror” at reports that Russia had used fully autonomous drones in Ukraine, allegedly killing three people in August, and joined calls for an urgent ban on weapons that can take lives without human involvement. Reuters said it had not independently verified those reports.

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I join calls for the urgent prohibition of weapons that can take lives without human involvement.