The advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) is raising growing concerns regarding our safety, decision-making capacity, and survival as a species. Warned UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk.
Speaking at a summit on the subject, Türk asserted that the unchecked race and competition surrounding AI are steering us into uncharted waters and raising numerous questions.
AI has the potential to drive rapid progress in fields such as science, education, healthcare, agriculture, public services, and human rights. It can enhance our work, organize our schedules, and handle routine tasks. However, great power comes with equally great responsibility. A problem arises when the two are out of balance, he noted.
Today’s powerful technological tools are not only developed and controlled by a privileged few—without public oversight. But are already performing actions that even their creators cannot fully foresee or manage, he added.
He also warned that accidental failures and deliberate misuse pose unprecedented threats to virtually every aspect of life. AI can undermine equality, freedom, privacy, and public discourse in countless ways. Allowing a dystopia to take hold almost without us noticing.
Entire populations could be cut off from communications, clean water, heating, and financial services at the push of a button. It is already transforming the nature of warfare. We need urgent measures to ban machines from deciding who lives and who dies, he stated.
He also pointed out that studies indicate students are experiencing lower knowledge retention. As well as a decline in independent thinking and creativity. The risks are widely recognized—as is the need to mitigate them—even by leaders within the AI sector itself. However, very few move from words to action, he said.
We must mobilize to ensure that technology serves humanity, and not the other way around. Human rights must be our compass, he asserted.
With information from Prensa Latina
- “Playing for the Argentine National Team was the best thing,” says Messi in farewell - 7 de October de 2026
- Blockade Against Cuba Affects Maternity Ward in Holguin - 7 de October de 2026
- UN High Commissioner Warns of AI Risks - 7 de October de 2026