AI poses existential threat to humanity: UN Human Rights Chief

Moscow, Sept 8: Artificial intelligence poses an existential threat to humanity, which must be addressed promptly, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said. “I share the concerns of industry insiders that advanced AI could pose an existential risk to humanity … I am calling here, today, for an all-out effort to put cast iron guarantees in place around the safety and security of AI, before it is too late,” he said at the 63rd session of the Human Rights Council, as quoted by his office on Monday.

Turk added that he would send a corresponding letter to all leading AI development companies in the coming days. At the same time, he said that only a handful of people hold “almost unlimited power over AI.”

“At a minimum, we need countries hosting AI and those involved in its supply chains to come together around agreed red lines,” Turk said. In December 2025, Chief Economist for the Asia-Pacific Regional Bureau of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Philip Schellekens warned that the military application of AI could pose an existential threat to humanity and lead to mass casualties, stressing the need for highly responsible regulation.

In January 2025, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called uncontrolled AI an existential threat, alongside climate change and nuclear weapons. (Sputnik/UNI)