A new United Nations report warns that the development of artificial intelligence may exacerbate global inequality.
As adoption and investment accelerate unevenly worldwide, the report proposes a shared framework for responsible AI development.
>>> Long Island Music Teacher Charged With Murder of Sister-in-Law
“Access to AI tools alone does not produce equal benefit,” the report states.
“Countries that rely on foreign models, cloud infrastructure and data pipelines may gain access to AI while losing practical control over its standards, safeguards and local fit.”
The analysis comes from the independent international scientific panel on AI, established by the UN General Assembly last year as the first global scientific body on AI.
It details both risks and opportunities, from transformative capabilities in agriculture and education to catastrophic outcomes when bad actors deploy AI for fraud or election interference.
Recommendations and Challenges
The preliminary report also serves as a toolkit, offering guidance to UN member states on capitalizing on AI’s potential while minimizing threats.
Suggestions include developing local AI infrastructure, improving AI literacy, investing in developers, building AI safety institutes, combating disinformation, and continuously measuring AI system behavior after release.
The report specifies that measurement should occur “with real users, real tasks and real environments.”
While over a billion people now use AI weekly, access and usage vary widely. Adoption across the global south lags far behind the global north.
The United States and China dominate in developing leading AI models and investing in compute infrastructure.
“The concentration of AI capabilities in a small number of firms and countries could enable authoritarian capture and undermine democratic accountability,” the report warns.
