Humans Are 'Against the Clock' on AI, UN Secretary-General Warns

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres is warning that humans are racing against time when it comes to figuring out how to manage and plan for artificial intelligence (AI) development.

Guterres announced the launch of the U.N.'s own AI Advisory Body ahead of the world's first global AI Safety Summit, a two-day event scheduled to take place next week in the United Kingdom (U.K.). The U.N. body aims to assess the potential benefits and risks of AI, and determine how the international community can regulate its uses.

The advisory body will be "inclusive" and "based on the universal values enshrined in the United Nations Charter," Guterres said in remarks shared Friday on social media. The body's members will include academics and researchers, technology experts, politicians and people from the private sector.

The U.N. body has three areas for which it aims to make official recommendations before the end of 2023. Guterres identified those topics as international governance and "shared understanding" on both the risks and opportunities that the emerging technology poses.

"It will consider how we can link various AI governance initiatives that are already underway. And it will work fast, because we are against the clock," he said.

Technology experts say there are many positive impacts AI could have on the world, particularly in the healthcare and drug development industries. In a call for AI regulation last week, the World Health Organization said AI offers "great promise for health" and could particularly be "beneficial" in areas without medical specialists.

However, there is wide concern about risks associated with AI. Geoffrey Hinton, a computer scientist known as the "Godfather of AI," said earlier this month that it's "a possibility" AI could one day "take over" from humans. He went on to appear as a credited author on a paper published this week that warned humans are "not on track to handle well" the risks AI poses.

Guterres acknowledged AI's possible risks and benefits in a press release announcing the advisory body's creation. He said AI could help developing nations with "leapfrogging outdated technologies and bringing services directly to people who need them most," but said it's also "already clear that the malicious use of AI could undermine trust in institutions, weaken social cohesion and threaten democracy itself."

The U.N. AI Advisory Body's launch follows a recent announcement by four major technology companies about the creation of a fund focused on AI safety research. Google, Microsoft, Anthropic and OpenAI are backing the AI Safety Fund, which has more than $10 million in pledges from the companies' philanthropic partners.

In the U.S., President Joe Biden is also reportedly planning to announce an executive order on October 30 related to AI regulation, according to The Washington Post. The announcement would come just two days before the AI Safety Summit, which Vice President Kamala Harris is expected to attend.

Newsweek reached out to the U.K.'s Department for Science, Innovation & Technology, which is helping coordinate the AI Safety Summit, by email on Friday for comment.