AI: Türk urges action before it becomes an ‘existential risk to humanity’

UN human rights chief Volker Türk added his voice on Monday to growing calls for greater AI controls, warning that the revolutionary technology could become an “existential risk to humanity” if left unchecked.Without binding rules, independent oversight and clear limits, the technology could become impossible to control, the High Commissioner told the Human Rights Council in Geneva.Mr. Türk raised the prospect of AI systems becoming so powerful that their developers could no longer control them.“AI that escapes its testing environment, or blackmails developers to prevent itself from being turned off, is AI that is too powerful,” he said. “I am calling here, today, for an all-out effort to put cast iron guarantees in place around the safety and security of AI, before it is too late.” ‘A handful of men’ in controlMr. Türk called on countries hosting AI technologies and those involved in their supply chains to work together to establish clear boundaries.“We need independent verification and much closer cooperation on safety within the sector,” he said.But he stressed that the challenge goes beyond technical safety.“A handful of men has almost unlimited power over AI,” he said, pointin...