Strategic Blindness at UNGA 81: “Super Intelligence” and “Killer Robots” Take Center Stage as Women’s Rights Take a Back Seat

Credit: United NationsOpinion by Shihana Mohamed (new york)Tuesday, September 29, 2026Inter Press Service NEW YORK, September 29 (IPS) - “Artificial intelligence (AI) must be shaped by humanity, with humanity, and for all humanity… Life-and-death decisions must never be surrendered to machines. Killer robots must have no place in our future.” With those words, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres opened the high-level debate of the 81st session of the General Assembly (UNGA 81). He also warned: “Women and girls continue to face discrimination, violence, exclusion and abuse… Their rights are being rolled back. Their voices silenced. Their bodies turned into battlegrounds.” Both technological transformation and the erosion of women’s rights were placed before the world, yet the political response to each was markedly different.Opening speeches focused heavily on technology. French President Emmanuel Macron warned that a few powers could decide the planet’s future through AI and urged states to build independent, open-source models; UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham called for global cooperation on transparency and ethics; China’s Vice President Han Zheng stressed a people-c...