United Nations raises concern over domination of AI governance by US, UK, 5 others  

The United Nations (UN) has expressed concern that only seven countries are currently involved in the governance of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and making decisions that affect other countries.

The UN Secretary-General’s High-level Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence stated this in its final report titled “Governing AI for Humanity.” 

According to the report, the seven countries involved in AI governance for the rest of the world include Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

“Whole parts of the world have been left out of international AI governance conversations. Seven countries are parties to all the sampled AI governance efforts, whereas 118 countries are parties to none (primarily in the global South),” the report stated.

AI governance involves setting policies, regulations, and guidelines that ensure the responsible and ethical development, deployment, and use of AI technologies.

More voices in AI 

The body noted that equity demands that more voices play meaningful roles in decisions about how to govern technology that affects them.

It emphasized that the concentration of decision-making in the AI technology sector cannot be justified, adding that historically many communities have been entirely excluded from AI governance conversations that impact them.

“AI governance regimes must also span the globe to be effective — effective in averting “AI arms races” or a “race to the bottom” on safety and rights, in detecting and responding to incidents emanating from decisions along AI’s life cycle which span multiple jurisdictions, in spurring learning, in encouraging interoperability, and in sharing AI’s benefits.  

“The technology is borderless and, as it spreads, the illusion that any one State or group of States could (or should) control it will diminish,” it said.

The need for AI regulation 

The UN body added that the development of AI cannot be left to the “whims” of the market alone.

• In the report, the 39-member panel agreed that national governments will inevitably play an important role in regulating AI but stressed that the technology’s borderless nature also requires a “global approach.”

• It added that the accelerating development of AI concentrates power and wealth on a global scale, with geopolitical and geoeconomic implications.

• It pointed out that no one currently understands all of AI’s inner workings enough to fully control its outputs or predict its evolution, nor are decision-makers held accountable for developing, deploying, or using systems they do not understand.

“Many countries face fiscal and resource constraints limiting their ability to use AI appropriately and effectively,” said the panel.

“The imperative of global governance, in particular, is irrefutable. AI’s raw materials, from critical minerals to training data, are globally sourced. The development, deployment, and use of such a technology cannot be left to the whims of markets alone,” the report stated.

What you should know 

The UN advisory body was created in October 2023 and has now made seven recommendations to address AI-related risks and gaps in governance.

• These include establishing an AI data framework to boost transparency and accountability, and a fund to help developing countries benefit from developments in the technology.

• Since the release of OpenAI’s viral ChatGPT bot in 2022, the use of AI has spread rapidly, raising concerns about fueling misinformation, fake news, and infringement of copyrighted material.
• Only a handful of countries have created laws to govern the spread of AI tools. The European Union has been ahead of the rest by passing a comprehensive AI Act compared with the United States’ approach of voluntary compliance, while China has aimed to maintain social stability and state control.

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