The UN Secretary-General’s High-level Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence (HLAB-AI) has released its final report outlining “a blueprint for addressing AI-related risks and sharing its transformative potential globally.” The report offers recommendations for the UN, governments, and stakeholders to address gaps in current AI governance arrangements.

A UN press release notes that “[o]ut of 193 Member States, only seven are party to seven recent prominent AI governance initiatives,” while 118, mostly in the Global South, are missing altogether. With no global framework to govern AI, its development is “in the hands of a few multinational companies in a few countries.” “[T]he impacts of unleashing AI,” it notes, “risk being imposed on most people without their having any say in the decisions for doing so.”

Titled, ‘Governing AI for Humanity,’ the report urges the UN to lay the foundations of the first globally inclusive and distributed architecture for AI governance based on international cooperation. It calls on all governments and stakeholders to work together in governing AI to foster development and protect human rights.

To address gaps in current AI governance arrangements, the report recommends:

  • Establishing an International Scientific Panel on AI, to provide impartial, reliable scientific knowledge about AI;
  • Launching a new policy dialogue on AI governance at the UN, with intergovernmental and multi-stakeholder meetings, to foster common ground and regulatory interoperability rooted in human rights;
  • Setting up an AI standards exchange, involving representatives from standards organizations, tech companies, and civil society, to ensure technical interoperability of AI systems across borders;
  • Creating a global AI capacity development network to boost AI governance capacities, offering training, resources, and AI datasets to researchers and social entrepreneurs;
  • Establishing a global AI fund to address gaps in capacity and collaboration, empowering local efforts to further the SDGs;
  • Fostering a global AI data framework to standardize data-related definitions, principles, and stewardship, ensuring transparency and accountability in AI systems; and
  • Forming a small AI office within the UN Secretariat to support and coordinate the implementation of these proposals.

In his video message to the launch of the report, Secretary-General António Guterres urged “all stakeholders to give these recommendations their fullest consideration.” He said they provide “a blueprint to build on existing efforts and together, shape an international AI architecture that is inclusive, agile, and effective – for today and the future.”

Launched on 19 September 2024, the report builds on extensive global consultations, including 18 deep-dive discussions on key issues, more than 50 consultation sessions across all regions, and more than ​50 written submissions from over 150 organizations and 100 individuals​, as well as the publication of an interim report in December 2023.

Initially proposed in 2020 as part of the Secretary-General’s Roadmap for Digital Cooperation, HLAB-AI was formed in October 2023 to conduct analysis and make recommendations for the international governance of AI. Its 39 members from 33 countries served in their personal capacity. [Publication: Governing AI for Humanity] [AI Advisory Body]