UN urges faster action to protect children from AI harm

The President of the UN General Assembly on Monday urged governments and technology companies not to wait for a global governance framework before acting to protect children from the growing risks posed by artificial intelligence, warning that the international community is "not quick enough to protect our children." Speaking at the opening of the first Global Dialogue on AI Governance in Geneva, Annalena Baerbock said safeguards should be guided by the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

UN chief's call for child safety pledge

Earlier Monday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for an AI Child Safety Pledge, saying children are being exposed to artificial intelligence before its risks are fully understood. "We do not let medicine reach a child until it is proven safe. We test every toy, yet AI has reached our children, their learning, their friendships, their most private questions before anyone asked what it would do to them," he said. Under the proposed pledge, no company should deploy an AI system accessible to children without child-specific safety testing and independent oversight, and systems must detect and report sexual abuse content.

AI governance and global dialogue

Baerbock also said a proposed UN AI fund is part of the broader UN80 reform process and will move into the organization's 81st session beginning in September. The inaugural dialogue brought together more than 4,000 participants from 170 countries. Guterres also warned that civilian AI chips are increasingly shifting to the battlefield, describing autonomous weapons as "killer robots," while insisting that while AI can inform decisions in justice, healthcare and policing, "humans must decide and answer".