UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday called for steps to manage artificial intelligence (AI) risks, including creating a multilateral AI Risk Management Framework.

"For centuries, power came from territory. Then industry. Then finance. Today, power increasingly comes from data, computing capacity and algorithms. This new power is highly concentrated. It is advancing at extraordinary speed, and racing ahead of our ability to understand its full consequences," Guterres said in an address to the opening of the General Debate of the 81st Session of the UN General Assembly.

The danger is not technology – the danger is technology without accountability, capability without oversight, and decision-making without transparency. And that danger cannot be minimized. The very developers building these systems are now pulling the alarm, said Guterres.

The first duty of government is to protect its people. Governments must assume their responsibilities. And governments with the greatest AI capabilities have the greatest responsibilities to humanity, to establish channels for dialogue, transparency, trust and cooperation, he said.

At a pivotal moment during the Cold War, strategic rivals came to recognize the need to manage shared existential risks. They built mechanisms to reduce misunderstandings, manage escalation and prevent catastrophe. At that time, it was nuclear armaments. Today, AI demands the same clarity of purpose and sense of urgency, said the UN chief.

"Those countries leading this technological revolution must share information on emerging safety risks, cooperate on testing and evaluation, and work towards common safeguards that protect us all," said Guterres. "But because this affects us all, global coordination is indispensable. And there is only one place where every country has a voice in shaping our common future: and that place is the United Nations."

Through the Global Digital Compact, UN member states agreed for the first time on universal principles for AI governance; through the Global Dialogue on AI Governance, a platform was created for governments, scientists, industry leaders and civil society to work together; through the Independent International Scientific Panel on AI, the United Nations has brought together global expertise to ensure that policy is guided by evidence, he noted.

Building on these efforts, UN member states must take the next steps: first, to advance the conditions for the responsible pacing of AI and the additional safeguards needed to address risks; and second, to work toward a multilateral AI Risk Management Framework, supported by credible and independent oversight, said Guterres.

AI must be shaped by humanity, with humanity, and for all humanity. Children must never become the test subjects for unregulated systems. Life-and-death decisions must never be surrendered to machines. Killer robots must have no place in our future, he added.