Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, addressed the UN Human Rights Council on September 7, 2026, with a blunt assessment that advanced AI could pose an existential risk to humanity.
A handful of men, almost unlimited power
Türk called out Meta, Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google directly, arguing that “just a handful of men held almost unlimited power over AI.”
The commissioner announced plans to contact AI companies directly, bypassing the usual channels of government-to-government diplomacy. He also urged countries that host AI operations to establish “red lines” for development.
The timing is deliberate. Türk is preparing for a new term in office, and the speech positions AI governance as a defining priority for his tenure.
