UN Secretary-General Addresses United Nations General Debate, 81st Session | #UNGA

António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, addresses the General Debate of the 81st Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations (New York, 22 - 26 and 28 September 2026).

Excellencies.

The fourth power test is technology and above all, artificial intelligence.
For centuries, power came from territory, then industry, then finance.
Today, power increasingly comes from data, computing capacity, and algorithms.

And this new power is highly concentrated, and it's advancing at extraordinary speed and racing ahead of our ability to understand its full consequences.
In 2017, AI was barely on the world's radar.
Yet in my first address to the opening of the General Assembly I warned, and I quote, artificial intelligence is a game changer that can boost development and transform lives in spectacular fashion.
But it may also have a dramatic impact on labor markets and indeed, on global security and the very fabric of societies.

Here we are almost a decade later, and it is indeed a game changer with enormous promise to advance medicine, accelerate scientific discovery, expand opportunity, and improve lives.
But make no mistake, the danger is not technology.
The danger is technology.

Without accountability, capability, without oversight, decision making, without transparency.
And that danger can be minimised.
The very developers building these systems are now pulling the alarm.
Excellencies the first duty of government is to protect their 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.
Not despite geopolitical rivalry, but precisely because of it.
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 the nuclear armament.
Today artificial intelligence demands the same clarity of purpose and sense of urgency.
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.

But because this affects us all, global coordination is indispensable.
And there is only one place where every country has a voice in shame in shaping our common future.
And that place is the United Nations.
Through the Global Digital Compact, you agreed for the first time on universal principles for AI governance through the Global Dialogue on AI governance.

We created a platform for governments, scientists, industry leaders, and civil society to work together through the Independent International Scientific Panel on AI.
We have brought together global expertise to ensure that policy is guided by evidence.
Just yesterday, the AI scientific panel released a thematic brief on AI safety and risks from loss of human control.
Building on these efforts, we must take the next steps.

First, to advance the conditions for the responsible pacing of AI and the additional safeguards needed to address risks.
Second to work towards a multilateral AI risk management framework supported by credible and independent oversight.
In all our efforts, we must ensure no country is left behind.
Artificial intelligence must be shaped by humanity, with humanity and for all humanity.

And as we confront the challenges ahead, let us not retreat from two fundamental principles.
Let us say with one voice children must never become the test subjects for unregulated systems and.
Let us resolve that life and death decisions must never be surrendered to machines.
Killer robots must have no place in our future.