The High-Level Expert Panel on Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), convened by the UN Council of Presidents of the General Assembly (UNCPGA), released its report titled "Governance of the Transition to Artificial General Intelligence: Urgent Considerations for the UN General Assembly" in 2024, calling for urgent, coordinated international action to govern AGI development and deployment. Chaired by Jerome Glenn and featuring internationally recognised experts including Yoshua Bengio, Stuart Russell, and Jaan Tallinn, the panel warned that human-level AI could emerge within this decade, posing unprecedented risks including autonomous harmful actions and threats to global security.
The report presents specific recommendations, including convening a dedicated UN General Assembly session on AGI, establishing a global observatory, creating a certification system for secure AGI, and considering a UN Convention and international agency to ensure responsible development and equitable distribution of AGI benefits. In February 2024, Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis stated that AGI will begin to emerge in the next 5-10 years and advocated for "a kind of CERN for AGI" to ensure safe development, while a DeepMind research paper suggests AGI could arrive as early as 2030 and permanently destroy humanity.
The expert panel emphasises that while AGI has the potential to accelerate scientific discoveries, advance public health, and help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, mitigating risks is essential to reap these benefits. The report, which has been formally submitted to the President of the General Assembly with discussions already underway regarding its implementation, represents an important step toward shaping international cooperation on one of the most transformative technologies of our time, with official UN briefings expected in the coming months.
Sources:
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Mara Di Berardo
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Yeliz Doker
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