Advanced artificial intelligence could pose "an existential" threat to humanity, U.N. rights chief Volker Turk warned on Monday as he pledged to press AI firms to curb risks that his office said included disruptions to services, communications and democratic systems.
He called for "cast-iron guarantees" to secure AI in a speech ahead of the start of his second term, in which he also demanded accountability over deaths in U.S. immigration custody and condemned Russia's reported use of autonomous drones.
The wide-ranging address was his first to the 47-member council since he won the four-year term in July in the face of opposition from Moscow and Washington.
'Horror at autonomous drones'
"I share the concerns of industry insiders that advanced AI could pose an existential risk to humanity," Turk told the body in Geneva.
