On Thursday, the UN General Assembly will consider a resolution outlining the advantages and disadvantages of artificial intelligence, a potentially game-changing technology, and it will also urge for the creation of international standards.
The document, which is co-sponsored by numerous nations, stresses the need for regulations “to promote safe, secure, and trustworthy artificial intelligence systems,” but it does not include military AI within its scope.
The resolution, taken as a whole, emphasizes more the beneficial aspects of technology and asks for more caution “to bridge the artificial intelligence and other digital divides between and within countries.”
The United States presented the draft resolution, the first on the subject, and it will be put before the assembly for adoption on Thursday.
It also seeks “to promote, not hinder, digital transformation and equitable access” to AI in order to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, which aim to ensure a better future for humanity by 2030.
“As AI technologies rapidly develop, there is urgent need and unique opportunities for member states to meet this critical moment with collective action,” US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said, reading a joint statement by the dozens of co-sponsor countries.
According to Richard Gowan, an analyst at the International Crisis Group, “the emphasis on development is a deliberate effort by the US to win goodwill among poorer nations.”
“It is easier to talk about how AI can help developing countries progress rather than tackle security and safety topics head-on as a first initiative,” he said.
