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As global leaders gathered at the UN during High Level Week at the organization’s headquarters in New York, AI is emerging as an issue that both unites and divides the country.
While they agree that AI has many benefits, they differ on its risks, who writes the rules, and who makes the rules how to stop entire countries from being left behind.
UN News review some of the key speeches delivered during the UN General Debate to understand the challenges and benefits countries are focusing on.
AI has powered breakthroughs including speeding up medical diagnosis.
As the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres say: “AI is indeed a game changer — with great promise to advance medicine, accelerate scientific discovery, expand opportunity, and improve lives.”
Innovation vs protection
Countries seem focused on finding the right balance: How can we encourage the positive aspects of AI technology without opening the door to disaster at the hands of rogue agents?
President of the General Assembly Khalilur Rahman puts it clearly: “AI can be a great accelerator of human progress; therefore, we must not close the door to innovation.”
But he also highlights the potential downsides; job losses and deepening digital divide, and calls for restrictions based on science, not fear.
Switzerland delivered a similar message, warning that regulations need to build trust without reducing the benefits of AI. Japan focuses attention on cooperation in the field of AI security at borders.
Saudi Arabia relies on ethics and responsible use. Singapore supporting testing, trust building, and cross-border incident reporting, while flagging the dangers of increasingly autonomous systems.
Guterres expressed this challenge firmly: “The danger is not technology. The danger is technology without accountability: Unsupervised capability. Decision making without transparency.”
Humans are not processors
When policy conversations are no longer on the table, much of the country is left wondering: what impact will this have on everyday life?
A technician maintains solar panels at a hospital in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.
That English talked about faster cancer diagnoses, economic reform and better public services. India goes further, describing AI as an innovative development tool: “We see AI as a transformational driver, for human empowerment, economic prosperity, and solving population-scale problems.”
The UK is also focused on potential disruption. “But we know that AI will also be a source of disruption to the way we live and work, as well as a risk multiplier.”
The solution? Keeping people, in particular, the elected, in control: “Fundamental decisions about this technology are too important to be left to chance. They must be made by elected governments serving working people.”
These concerns reflect a broader debate over whether AI will narrow or deepen inequality.
Who wrote the rules?
Another recurring question is whether countries will simply use AI or help shape its future.
South Africa direct: Africa needs help in writing these rules, linking them to research, youth and economic transformation. Switzerland agrees that real participation means shaping governance, not just gaining access.
India encourages sovereignty: “We believe in the right of every country, to shape its ecosystem, with its own model development, and deployment strategy, consistent with its national goals and priorities.”
Meanwhile, China focus on ensuring that technological progress is shared widely and not concentrated in just a few countries or communities.
“We must take a society-centered approach and develop AI for positivity and good, narrowing the digital divide and driving universally beneficial development.”
Diplomats meet at the UN in Geneva to discuss AI Governance.
Singapore went further by raising the idea of a future UN framework convention and a dedicated international AI institution, with all parties, not just the frontrunners, taking part in the negotiations.
The UN has begun convening countries to discuss the issues raised by AI including forming a treaty Independent International Scientific Panel on AI and holding a Global Dialogue on AI Governance
Real currency: Power and access
Data concentration, computing power and its impact remain a major concern for many countries.
Brazil marking the outsized influence of big tech companies. France increasing the risk of dependence on dominant countries or a handful of private companies.
Developing countries want to play a bigger role in digital development, pressing for more access to increased computing power, technical know-how, infrastructure and a key role in setting standards.
China attributes this to the digital divide, South Africa to participation in research and governance, Saudi Arabia to capacity development institutions, and Switzerland to skills and infrastructure support.
Data centers like these are driving the AI revolution.
The takeaway: The future of AI may be about access and regulation.
Keeping people informed of developments
Security concerns emerged through many of the speeches.
- France flagged risks around defence, cyber security and space.
- Japan pointed to information integrity and an increasingly robust border system.
- Türkiye calls for an international legal framework.
- Ukraine warned that the more advanced this technology becomes, the more urgent the search for peace becomes.
- Singapore has also voiced concerns about autonomous weapons and the loss of human control.
So how big is global surveillance?
Although many countries support the idea of cooperation, finding common ground on the extent to which such cooperation should be carried out remains a problem.
Russia supports UN-centered rulemaking with universal support. Turkey is pushing for a UN convention on AI. Britain called for global principles and standards, and said AI would be a key issue when it assumes the G20 presidency.
The UN Secretary General went further, laying out concrete proposals including stronger safeguards, independent oversight, and a new risk management architecture: “But because this impacts us all, Global coordination is urgently neededhe said to the General Assembly.
Not all sovereign states are convinced that tighter controls are the solution. That United States of America offers the sharpest counterpoint, by treating AI dominance as a strategic and economic imperative.
President Donald Trump proposed an alternative vision: “I will not hinder the growth of something bigger than the Industrial Revolution. Many say bigger than the Industrial Revolution or the Internet itself.”
