2023-07-19 11:46:01
Minimize the risks posed by artificial intelligence (AI) and maximize the benefits for humanity. It is on this double objective that the international community is beginning to reflect in major international forums. On Tuesday, July 18, the UN Security Council held its first meeting devoted to the “revolution of the 21st century”.
Opportunities and risks of AI
A consensus seems to be emerging on the international scene: to prevent it from spiraling out of control, AI must be regulated on a global scale. In the presence of Antonio Guterres, the UN Secretary General, the Security Council launched the debate on this eminently complex subject. On this occasion, Antonio Guterres warned of the risks of AI for peace and global security, calling for the urgent implementation of safeguards.
All is certainly not black in the picture painted by the diplomats. These new technologies can help “eradicate poverty, eradicate hunger, cure cancer and boost climate action”. When it comes to security, AI is an asset “to identify patterns of violence, monitor ceasefires” or “strengthen peacekeeping, mediation and humanitarian efforts”.
But AI raises many questions for world peace. Among the main concerns, and the most immediate, is the development of autonomous weapons: the Secretary General wants, by the end of 2026, the creation of a binding instrument to prohibit “Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems” operating without human supervision. A group of experts will be appointed soon to propose “options” in this area by December.
First Global AI Summit in the fall
Aware of the challenges posed by artificial intelligence, the international community seems determined to act. In early June, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced that his country would organize the first world summit devoted to AI this fall, in order to lay the foundations for regulation.
The UN, for its part, is considering specific structures. On Tuesday, the Secretary General pleaded in favor of the creation of a “united nations entity” to help maximize the benefits of AI and reduce the risks, modeled on the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) or the UN Climate Panel (IPCC).
In this emerging debate, there are many ethical concerns. Also because AI is regularly singled out, accused of reinforcing stereotypes and discrimination. In this respect, the role of the private sector is decisive. Jack Clark, co-founder of California-based Anthropic, gave his testimony at the Security Council meeting. He considered it necessary to strengthen the capacities of States to regulate the development of AI to make it a common initiative, and not only that of the private sector.
A resolution for human rights
A sign of the mobilization of the international community, the “historic meeting” of the Security Council was preceded, by a few days, by that of the UN Human Rights Council on 14 July. The Council, which had previously looked at new technologies, but not specifically at the development of AI, adopted a resolution calling on the international community to take protective and supervisory measures.
The text calls in particular to promote the “transparency” and to ensure that the data intended for this technology “be collected, used, shared, archived and deleted” in ways compatible with human rights. Only China and India expressed their reservations on this resolution, without however opposing the adoption of the document.
In terms of human rights and democracy, AI is worrying as much by the citizen trust that it can undermine through misinformation as by the use that authoritarian regimes can make of it to exercise mass surveillance of citizens. .
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