Top executives from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Hugging Face are scheduled to brief the UN Security Council on Wednesday as concerns mount that increasingly powerful AI systems might soon self-improve, escape human oversight, and jeopardize global security.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, and Hugging Face co-founder Clément Delangue are set to address the 15-member council during the annual UN General Assembly gathering of world leaders.
Altman intends to urge world leaders to establish benchmarks for evaluating AI capabilities and the safety measures implemented by developers, according to an OpenAI executive speaking with reporters on Tuesday.
Council members, including major AI rivals the United States and China, are also expected to speak, with French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot set to chair the session.
A European diplomat, speaking anonymously, stated that the primary goal of the meeting is to highlight the practical risks of AI losing control in ways that threaten international and national security.
“These issues fall squarely within the Security Council’s mandate,” the diplomat said. “The central question is whether we could one day face a scenario where interacting algorithms trigger a conflict. That is the core of the matter.”
Trump Opposes Restricting AI Development
Ahead of a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Washington on Thursday, the US and China have discussed establishing a notification system for shared goals and threats, covering AI-related incidents that escalate to a national security level.
Trump told world leaders at the UN General Assembly on Tuesday that he “rejects any attempt to construct a globalist scheme to control” AI, calling the technology amazing while noting that the US will proceed with caution.
“We are leading China and everyone else by a wide margin, and we will maintain that lead,” Trump said. “I will not stifle the growth of something that will be bigger than the Industrial Revolution.”
“We will encourage it, not rein it in. We will monitor it closely through the Department of Justice,” he said.
Guterres Warns of AI Advancement Risks
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned that rapidly advancing AI poses risks that cannot be ignored, placing him at odds with Trump.
Guterres has long advocated for global AI governance and established a 39-member advisory body in 2023 for one year, comprising tech executives, government officials, and academics from the US, Russia, and Japan.
The 193-member UN General Assembly subsequently created the Independent International Scientific Panel last year. Yoshua Bengio, a Canadian regarded as one of the “Godfathers of AI” and co-chair of the panel, will also brief the Security Council.
The Security Council first addressed AI risks in 2023, when China cautioned against the technology becoming a “runaway horse” and the US warned against its use for censorship or repression. Former US Secretary of State Antony Blinken chaired a Security Council meeting on AI in 2024.
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