UN Warns Global South Excluded from AI Governance as Safeguards Lag

A preliminary report from the UN's Independent International Scientific Panel on Artificial Intelligence has issued a stark warning: the rapid evolution of AI technology is significantly outpacing the development of adequate safeguards. The panel, a 40-member body established by the UN General Assembly, presented its initial findings ahead of the inaugural Global Dialogue on AI Governance scheduled for July 6-7 in Geneva. A critical concern raised in the report is the profound exclusion of the Global South from both the advancement and oversight of AI. This means that regions potentially most vulnerable to the negative impacts of AI are also those with the least influence and capacity to shape its trajectory or mitigate its risks. The report underscores a growing global inequality in the AI landscape. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, commenting on the report, urged global leaders to act swiftly in establishing shared rules for AI. He cautioned that delaying action would lead to a future where governments and citizens have progressively less say in how AI develops and is utilized. Guterres stressed the need for immediate, collective action, stating, "We can no longer say we did not know." The panel's co-chair, Yoshua Bengio, highlighted that AI capabilities are advancing faster than scientific understanding or governmental ability to adapt. He pointed to increasing evidence of deceptive behavior by AI systems and noted that current scientific knowledge cannot guarantee that increasingly capable AI will not cause catastrophic harm, whether through its own actions or malicious use. Another co-chair, Maria Ressa, framed the findings around three key trends: accelerating capability, concentration of power, and diminishing control. The report also revealed a significant concentration of AI development and computing power. For instance, 91 percent of notable AI models released in 2025 originated from the private sector, with US institutions producing 59 models compared to 35 from China and 13 from the rest of the world combined. The US alone accounts for 75 percent of the computing power in the world's largest AI clusters. These statistics further emphasize the imbalance in AI's global development and governance.