By Michelle Nichols and John Irish
UNITED NATIONS, Sept 18 (Reuters) – OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman will brief the United Nations Security Council next week during the annual gathering of world leaders in New York for the UN General Assembly, an OpenAI spokesperson said on Friday.
The 15-member Security Council is due to meet on Wednesday on artificial intelligence and international security, just weeks after several AI industry leaders called for a coordinated slowdown of the development of the increasingly powerful technology, warning that it could soon improve on its own and slip beyond human control.
“Sam Altman will brief an open UN Security Council meeting in person next week,” an OpenAI spokesperson told Reuters.
Altman’s remarks were expected to focus on the need for international coordination and shared safety standards, as well as steps OpenAI is taking to ensure people globally benefit, the spokesperson said.
Diplomats said they also expected high-level presence at the meeting from Anthropic, but that it was yet to be confirmed. Anthropic did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Security Council meeting has been convened by France, which is the president of the body for September, and will be chaired by French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Noël Barrot.
In a concept note for the meeting circulated to council members by France and seen by Reuters, it said: “In light of the risk of misuse of this technology for malicious purposes, and drawing on the Council’s existing engagement in this field, France wishes to underline the urgency of action to foster safe and responsible development of artificial intelligence for the benefit of the international community as a whole.”
The UN Security Council, which is charged with maintaining international peace and security, met for the first time on the risks of artificial intelligence in 2023, when China said the technology should not become a “runaway horse” and the United States warned against its use to censor or repress people.
Altman has been warning about the risks well before the current AI boom. In a 2015 essay titled “Machine Intelligence, part 1”, he said the “development of superhuman machine intelligence is probably the greatest threat to the continued existence of humanity”.
France, in its concept note, said the meeting aimed to allow participants to “present their analysis of the risks linked to loss of control or the use of the latest AI models to develop, facilitate and conduct actions with an impact on international security and peace.”
(Reporting by Michelle Nichols and Deepa Seetharaman, Editing by Franklin Paul)
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