UN chief likens AI risks to nuclear weapons at General Assembly

UN Secretary-General António Guterres opened the 81st UN General Assembly on Tuesday, warning that artificial intelligence is developing faster than humanity's ability to understand its effects, comparing the risks to those of nuclear weapons during the Cold War. Guterres said even AI creators admit they are "going blind" to the technology, urging countries to adopt cooperation mechanisms to prevent catastrophe. He called for sharing information on emerging risks, cooperating on testing, and establishing common safeguards, emphasizing that "killer robots" should have no place in the future. The Secretary-General framed AI as part of a broader power struggle alongside conflicts, climate crisis, and inequality, arguing these are not separate crises but chapters of the same story. He stressed that life-or-death decisions must never be left to machines and that children cannot become guinea pigs for unregulated systems.