OpenAI CEO Altman to Brief UN Security Council on AI During UN General Assembly

OpenAI confirmed on Sept. 18 that CEO Sam Altman will brief the UN Security Council on artificial intelligence next week during the UN General Assembly in New York. The 15-member council is scheduled to hold a meeting on AI and international security on Sept. 23, convened and chaired by France, which holds the council's presidency for September.

Altman is expected to discuss the need for international coordination and common safety standards, as well as measures OpenAI is taking to ensure people worldwide benefit from AI. The meeting comes weeks after several AI industry leaders called for a coordinated slowdown in AI development, warning that AI could soon gain self-improvement capabilities and slip out of human control.

An anonymous diplomat said Anthropic may also send a senior representative, though this has not been confirmed. In a concept paper distributed to council members, France stressed the urgency of action to promote safe and responsible AI development for the benefit of the international community, citing risks of malicious misuse.

The Security Council first discussed AI risks in 2023. Altman warned about AI dangers long before the current boom, writing in 2015 that superhuman machine intelligence could be the greatest threat to humanity's continued existence.