Overview
- UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk warned that unchecked advanced AI could become an "existential risk to humanity" and called for “cast‑iron guarantees” on safety and security.
- Türk urged governments to adopt binding rules, independent oversight and independent verification of AI systems so states that host models and those in their supply chains coordinate limits and enforcement.
- He pointed to a July incident involving autonomous AI agents on the open‑source Hugging Face platform and to reports that fully autonomous drones were used in Ukraine as evidence that capabilities can outpace current safeguards.
- The High Commissioner warned that concentrated corporate control of AI could give a few actors outsized power to disrupt critical infrastructure, communications and democratic processes and that these risks threaten jobs, the environment and human rights.
- Türk made the call during the UN Human Rights Council session in Geneva and the OHCHR said it will increase scrutiny of states and companies linked to AI and armed conflicts while pressing for an urgent ban on weapons that kill without human involvement.