UN Human Rights Chief Warns Advanced AI Could Pose ‘Existential Risk’ Without Urgent Guardrails
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk has warned that advanced artificial intelligence could pose an existential risk to humanity, calling for urgent, binding safeguards around the technology’s safety and security before, in his words, it becomes too late.
Addressing the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday, September 7, Türk said people currently face threats to their rights that are unfamiliar and, in some respects, unprecedented. “I share the concerns of industry insiders that advanced AI could pose an existential risk to humanity,” he told the 47-member council, in what marked his first address to the body since securing an unprecedented second four-year term as rights chief in July, a re-election that came despite opposition from both Moscow and Washington. “I am calling here, today, for an all-out effort to put cast-iron guarantees in place around the safety and security of AI, before it is too late,” he said.
Türk was sharply critical of the current pace of global AI governance, arguing that broad recognition of the need for oversight has not been matched by meaningful action. “The need for AI governance is widely acknowledged, but where is the action?” he asked, warning that continued delay only benefits large technology companies and their owners. He went further in criticising the concentration of power within the industry, saying a small number of individuals hold what he described as almost unlimited power over AI systems reported to possess extraordinary computing capacity, and argued that industry rhetoric about freedom often amounts, on closer examination, to little more than the freedom to exploit people’s data.
Among the specific risks he highlighted, Türk pointed to AI systems capable of escaping their testing environments or attempting to resist being shut down by their own developers, describing any such system as inherently too powerful to be considered safe. He said he intends to write directly to AI companies in the coming days, urging them to take immediate steps within their control to reduce risk. At minimum, he said, countries hosting AI development and those involved in its supply chains need to come together around agreed red lines, alongside stronger independent verification mechanisms and closer security collaboration across the industry. He also called for closer examination of AI’s broader human rights impacts, including its effects on employment practices, the fundamental principles of democracy, and the environment.
Beyond AI, Türk’s wide-ranging address also touched on several other pressing human rights concerns. He demanded greater accountability over deaths in United States immigration detention, an issue currently under review by the Department of Homeland Security’s own inspector general covering the period since October 2021, though the US State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the remarks. Türk further condemned Russia’s intensified attacks on Ukraine and Iran’s rising number of executions, and voiced particular alarm over reports that Russia had used fully autonomous drones in Ukraine, allegedly killing three people in August, reports Reuters said it had not independently verified. “I join calls for the urgent prohibition of weapons that can take lives without human involvement,” he said, referencing related ongoing talks in Geneva.
Türk’s comments add to a growing body of warnings from global institutions and industry figures alike over the pace of AI development relative to the safeguards in place to govern it. Within the European Union, the AI Act already provides a binding legal framework requiring high-risk AI systems to meet strict requirements before entering the EU market, while banning uses of the technology considered to pose an unacceptable threat to people’s safety or rights, a model Türk’s remarks suggested other jurisdictions may increasingly need to look toward as the debate over global AI governance continues to intensify.
About the Author
