UN Warns AI Could Pose a Threat to Humankind

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, has warned that artificial intelligence (AI) could pose a threat to humankind. Turk pledged to press AI companies to mitigate the risks that artificial intelligence may pose to humans.

The risks Turk referred to include disruption to services, communications and democratic systems.

Speaking before the UN Human Rights Council in session in Geneva, Switzerland, as reported by Reuters on Tuesday (8/9/2026), Turk called for “very robust guarantees” to ensure the safety of AI.

“I share the concerns of industry figures that sophisticated AI could pose an existential risk to humankind,” Turk said in his address on Monday (7/9).

“Here, today, I call for every effort to be made to establish very robust guarantees relating to AI safety and security, before it is too late,” he said.

Turk did not specify the nature of the risks he cited. However, a spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights explained that failures involving highly sophisticated AI systems could disrupt vital infrastructure and democratic institutions.

The spokesperson referred to “dangerous agent training behaviour” in the Hugging Face incident last July, when a group of OpenAI agents hacked the open-source platform. He said this indicated that cutting-edge AI capabilities had developed faster than the safeguards in place.

In his address, Turk also warned that only a handful of people held “almost unlimited power over AI”. He did not specifically name the individuals concerned.

Leading AI companies currently include Meta, Anthropic, OpenAI and Google.

“At the very least, we need the states where AI operates and the parties involved in its supply chain to unite around agreed red lines,” Turk said.

In his speech, he also demanded accountability for deaths in United States immigration detention and condemned reports of Russia’s use of autonomous drones.

Turk won a second four-year term in a UN General Assembly vote last July, despite opposition from the US and Russia.

The UN Human Rights Council will remain in session until 7 October to discuss various issues, including the Iran war, the civil conflict in Sudan and a series of other crises.