UN tech chief calls for ‘urgent’ global approach on AI rules
GENEVA
The world urgently needs to find a global approach on regulating artificial intelligence, the United Nations' top tech chief said.
As concerns mount over the risks posed by the fast-moving technology, including fears of mass job losses, the spread of deepfakes and disinformation, and society's fabric fraying, Doreen Bogdan-Martin, head of the U.N.'s International Telecommunications Union (ITU) agency, insisted that regulation was key.
"There's an urgency to try to get the right framework in place," she said, stressing the need for "a global approach."
Her comments came after U.S. President Donald Trump this week unveiled an aggressive, low-regulation strategy aimed at ensuring the United States stays ahead of China on AI.
Among more than 90 proposals, Trump's plan calls for sweeping deregulation, with the administration promising to "remove red tape and onerous regulation" that could hinder private sector AI development.
Asked if she had concerns about an approach that urges less, not more, regulation of AI technologies, Bogdan-Martin refrained from commenting, saying she was "still trying to digest" the U.S. plan.
"I think there are different approaches," she said.
"We have the EU approach. We have the Chinese approach. Now we're seeing the U.S. approach. I think what's needed is for those approaches to dialogue," she said.
She highlighted that "85 percent of countries don't yet have AI policies or strategies."
A consistent theme among those strategies that do exist is the focus on innovation, capacity building and infrastructure investments, Bogdan-Martin said.
"But where I think the debate still needs to happen at a global level is trying to figure out how much regulation, how little regulation, is needed," she said.
