UN chief urges leaders to cooperate as power divides the world

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres delivered a farewell speech Tuesday urging global leaders to choose cooperation over fragmentation to address existential threats like climate change, AI, and inequality, identifying power as the central issue. Guterres highlighted an "irreversible" shift to a multipolar world, an "extraordinary transfer of power" from governments to a few private corporations, and the growing handover of power from humans to machines via artificial intelligence as key drivers of global polarization. The address came at the annual U.N. General Assembly high-level meeting, where Guterres framed the choice facing nations as a defining challenge for the future of global governance and collective security.