Does the UN Have a Seat at the AI Table?

In the United Nations’ early years, Secretary-General Trygve Lie negotiated with governments to stop the nuclear arms race. But today, the code that could reshape civilization is owned by private companies. 

This year, one of the leading artificial intelligence labs decided its new model was too dangerous to release. It was essentially a private CEO making a governance call for the entire world. The UN wasn’t in the room.  In fact, it wasn’t even invited.

The UN is trying to catch up. It has launched a new scientific panel, and it is hosting global dialogues in Geneva to get everyone on the same page. But is that enough? Or will the next Secretary-General get left behind while Silicon Valley writes the rules for the future?

Host Jasmin Baoumy and co-host Mark Malloch-Brown are joined by Ambassador Philip Thigo, Kenya’s special envoy for technology; Nur Laiq, a technology and policy Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School; and Max Stauffer, co-founder of the Simon Institute for Longterm Governance in Geneva.

World’s Toughest Job is a co-production of Foreign Policy and the UN Foundation.

Listen here: Amazon | Apple | Spotify

---

Watch the Roundtable Interview

---

---