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AI Could Pose ‘Existential’ Risk to Humanity, UN Rights Chief Warns

The Australian

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U.N. rights chief Volker Turk warned on Monday (September 7) that artificial intelligence could become powerful enough to threaten humanity, and said he would urge companies in the coming days to reduce the risks.

Summary

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk asserts that artificial intelligence possesses the potential to become powerful enough to threaten human existence, necessitating urgent international oversight. The warning highlights the convergence of human rights protections and global safety frameworks as essential buffers against the misuse of frontier AI models. This intervention signals a shift in international governance towards treating AI not just as a privacy concern, but as a systemic risk to global stability and human survival. Such high-level warnings from UN leadership serve to catalyze global policy debates regarding the containment of catastrophic AI risks.