UN touts panel for ‘human control’ of AI at global summit
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A worker makes a logo of AI Impact Summit out of flowers along a road in New Delhi, India, on Feb 18.
PHOTO: REUTERS
NEW DELHI – A UN panel on artificial intelligence will work towards “science-led governance”, the global body’s chief said on Feb 20 as leaders at a New Delhi summit weighed their message
However, the US delegation warned against centralised control of generative AI, highlighting the difficulties of reaching consensus over how it should be handled.
The flip side of the gold rush surrounding AI is the risk of job disruption, online abuse and the heavy electricity consumption of data centres
“We are barrelling into the unknown,” UN chief Antonio Guterres told the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi. “The message is simple: Less hype, less fear. More facts and evidence.”
To cap the five-day summit, dozens of world leaders and ministers are expected to deliver on Feb 20 a shared view on the benefits of AI, such as instant translation and drug discovery, but also the risks.
It is the fourth annual global meeting focused on AI policy, with the next to take place in Geneva in the first half of 2027.
Tens of thousands of people from across the sector visited the vast summit and expo site, with some complaining of poor organisation including crowded and chaotic entry and exit points.
Police detained a group claiming to be members of the youth wing of the opposition Congress party who staged a shirtless protest at the venue against Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Feb 20.
‘Science-led governance’
Mr Guterres said the UN General Assembly had confirmed 40 members for a group called the Independent International Scientific Panel on Artificial Intelligence. It was created in August
“Science-led governance is not a brake on progress” and instead allows a “move from rough measures to smarter, risk-based guardrails”, Mr Guterres said. “Our goal is to make human control a technical reality – not a slogan.”
White House technology adviser Michael Kratsios, head of the US delegation, warned that “AI adoption cannot lead to a brighter future if it is subject to bureaucracies and centralised control”.
“As the Trump administration has now said many times: We totally reject global governance of AI,” he said.
The United States did not sign 2025’s summit statement and it released its own joint declaration with India on the afternoon of Feb 20.
It said the two countries would “pursue a global approach to AI that is unapologetically friendly to entrepreneurship and innovation”.
“Both sides pledge to adopt... mainstream regulatory regimes that advance technological innovation and promote investment,” the bilateral statement said.
Broad focus
The Delhi gathering is the largest AI summit yet, and the first in a developing country, with India taking the opportunity to push its ambitions to catch up with the US and China.
India expects more than US$200 billion (S$254 billion) in investments over the next two years, and US tech titans unveiled new deals and infrastructure projects this week.
The broad focus of the summit, and vague promises made at its previous editions in France, South Korea and Britain, could make concrete commitments unlikely.
Mr Sam Altman, head of ChatGPT maker OpenAI, has called for oversight in the past but said in 2025 that taking too tight an approach could hold the US back in the AI race.
“Centralisation of this technology, in one company or country, could lead to ruin,” he said on Feb 19, one of several top tech CEOs to take the stage.
“This is not to suggest that we won’t need any regulation or safeguards. We obviously do, urgently, like we have for other powerful technologies.” AFP
