World Leaders Converge at U.N. as Wars, AI Risks and Global Rifts Test Multilateralism

World leaders are convening at the United Nations this week under the shadow of wars and deep international divisions, while mounting fears that artificial intelligence could spiral beyond human control add to pressures already imposed by climate shocks and rising prices.

The annual high-level session of the U.N. General Assembly will be dominated by major conflicts in Iran, Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, Congo and Myanmar, raising a persistent question: Can global leaders do anything meaningful to end them?

They also face the accelerating threat of global warming, widening inequalities within and between countries, and growing strain on the global economy as disrupted shipping routes and supply chains drive up the cost of living and slow economic growth.

The future of the United Nations itself will also be central to discussions. Its power structure still reflects the victorious nations of World War II rather than the realities of the 21st century. The U.N.’s 193 member states have agreed to a broad reform package that includes changes to major institutions such as the powerful Security Council, where the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France retain outsized influence through their veto power. But turning reform commitments into action remains a formidable challenge.

Behind the scenes, attention will also focus on who may eventually succeed Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, whose second five-year term ends on Dec. 31. No clear successor has yet emerged.

A Pivotal Gathering for a Strained U.N.

The United Nations remains the central meeting point for its 193 member states and their leaders. Around 130 heads of state and government are expected to address the General Assembly beginning Tuesday, alongside dozens of ministers.

Among the most prominent speakers will be U.S. President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron. Both are scheduled to speak Tuesday after Guterres delivers his opening assessment of the state of the world. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian are due to address the assembly Wednesday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to speak Thursday. New York Mayor Zoran Mamdani had sought Netanyahu’s arrest over Israel’s treatment of Palestinians in Gaza before acknowledging he lacked the authority to order it. For a second consecutive year, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will not attend in person because the United States has refused to issue him a visa. He will instead address the assembly by video on Thursday.

Under its host-country agreement with the U.N., the United States is required to allow diplomats from all member nations to attend meetings at the organization’s headquarters.

Absences may be just as revealing as appearances. Chinese President Xi Jinping is meeting Trump in Washington on Wednesday but is skipping the U.N. gathering, with some diplomats describing the decision as a snub, and is sending a vice president instead. Russian President Vladimir Putin is also not attending, while Indian President Narendra Modi has withdrawn from the event.

France’s U.N. ambassador, Jerome Bonnafont, said it is “extremely critical” for world leaders this week to stand behind the U.N. as the forum where nations come together, especially during a period of intense polarization.

“We believe in multilateralism,” he said. “We believe that the high-level week is the occasion for countries in the world to reaffirm that they prefer cooperation and dialogue to confrontation.”

A Difficult Year for the World Body

The past year has been especially tough for the United Nations. The organization has been pushed to the margins on its core responsibility of maintaining international peace and security, including efforts to help end major conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine. Meanwhile, billions of dollars in unpaid U.S. dues have left the institution’s finances in a precarious position.

Richard Gowan, a veteran U.N. observer and the International Crisis Group’s program director for global issues and institutions, said 2025 was even worse.

A year earlier, he noted, many feared Trump would use his U.N. speech to announce that the United States would leave the organization. Trump did not declare a withdrawal last September, and the U.N. managed to get through the past 12 months despite financial problems that forced reductions in peacekeeping operations and humanitarian aid.

In recent days, the U.S. paid $725 million toward its dues for the U.N.’s regular operating budget this year, enough to prevent the Trump administration from losing its vote in the General Assembly. The payment was widely seen as a strong signal that Trump intends to keep the United States inside the organization.

The U.N. is no longer “in freefall,” Gowan said, but it “is stuck in an open-ended or permanent crisis.” In sharper terms, he added, “The U.N. may not be in emergency care like it was last year, but it does seem to be trapped in a trauma center for the foreseeable future.”

Mark Malloch-Brown, a former U.N. deputy secretary-general and current United Nations Foundation board member, said, “While the world still trusts the U.N., the global public is eager for change.”

AI Moves Closer to the Center of the Agenda

Artificial intelligence has surged to the forefront of global concerns as rapid advances bring growing recognition that the technology lacks meaningful industry controls, let alone global guardrails. AI offers major potential benefits, but it also carries serious risks, disadvantages and unresolved uncertainties.

Days before the global gathering, leaders of three major AI companies warned that the technology could move beyond human control and called for a pause in its development. Trump dismissed those concerns as “a hoax” and urged continued progress to keep the United States ahead of China.

The U.N. Security Council has added a high-level meeting on AI to its agenda for Wednesday afternoon, reflecting growing alarm and the need for international discussion. It was already scheduled to hold a high-level meeting on Ukraine with Zelenskyy on Wednesday morning.

For Guterres, this will be his final General Assembly meeting with world leaders as secretary-general. Previewing his speech last week, he told U.N. reporters that power is shifting in “an era of deep uncertainty.”

“At a time when the world faces three existential threats,” he said, “international cooperation is more necessary than ever.”

Other leaders and advocates will seek attention for issues ranging from rising sea levels and education funding to gender equality. Hundreds of private meetings will also take place across U.N. offices, hotels, diplomatic missions and restaurants.

Esther Brimmer, a senior fellow for global governance at the Council on Foreign Relations and a former U.S. assistant secretary of state for international organization affairs in the Obama administration, said face-to-face meetings can help countries work through ideas that may be put into practice months later.

She described the current global situation as “much more serious and complex than in decades past.”

“With that said, I’m also not without hope,” Brimmer said. “Over the past decades we’ve learned a lot about international cooperation.”

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