UN chief warns AI threat on par with 'nuclear war'

Antonio Guterres said peacekeeping missions and humanitarian aid operations have become targets of misinformation and propaganda

Hundreds of top AI scientists have said that 'mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal scale risks'. AFP

Artificial intelligence poses a threat to humanity on a par with “nuclear war”, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned on Monday.

He called for the creation of a multilateral body to help regulate the fast-growing technology.

His comments come after hundreds of top AI scientists, including high-level executives at Microsoft and Google, said that “mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal scale risks”.

“These scientists and experts have called on the world to act, declaring AI an existential threat to humanity on a par with the risk of nuclear war,” he said, and added that the “alarm bells” from generative AI were “deafening”.

“And they are loudest from the developers who designed it … We must take those warnings seriously.”

Mr Guterres called for the development of an international framework to provide solutions to assist tech companies in navigating ethical and legal challenges while fostering a healthy information ecosystem.

“We need to be careful we don't create a monster nobody will be able to control,” he said.

The UN chief also urged the international community to address the “grave global harm” caused by the proliferation of hate and lies online, which is also a threat to democracy and human rights.

The development of large language models, such as those utilised by ChatGPT and other chatbots, has raised concerns about the widespread dissemination of misinformation and propaganda.

Mr Guterres highlighted the detrimental effect of AI on UN peacekeeping missions and humanitarian aid operations, which have been the target of attacks, making their work even more dangerous.

He underscored the challenges posed by the “massive” profitability of AI and said that “we must mobilise all those that are committed to information integrity”.