Twenty countries and the European Union have called for greater international cooperation to ensure artificial intelligence remains under human control, including the possible creation of a global body to oversee AI development.
The countries, including Germany, South Africa, Canada, Australia, the United Arab Emirates and Singapore, issued a joint declaration on Monday as world leaders prepare to discuss the risks associated with rapidly advancing AI technologies at the United Nations General Assembly.
The declaration, released by the office of Finnish President Alexander Stubb, urged governments and technology companies to ensure AI is developed in accordance with international law and remains under “human direction, oversight and control.”
The countries called for the development of common AI safety standards, greater sharing of information about serious incidents and discussions on establishing an international institution that could set standards, verify compliance and bring countries together when AI capabilities reach certain thresholds.
The United States and China, the world's two leading AI powers, did not sign the declaration. India, South Korea, Japan, the United Kingdom and France were also absent from the list of signatories.
US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to discuss AI when they meet at the White House on Thursday.
The declaration comes amid growing debate over AI safety. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei recently called for companies to slow the pace of AI development because of potential risks. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Elon Musk subsequently expressed support for greater caution.
OpenAI also called on Monday for the United States to lead international efforts to establish technical standards for advanced AI.
The UN-backed Independent International Scientific Panel on AI likewise called for stronger safeguards, saying a recent cyberattack involving AI systems had exposed weaknesses in existing protections.
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