GENEVA: The AI warning signs are flashing red. United Nations rights chief Volker Turk has warned that increasingly advanced artificial intelligence could pose an existential threat to humanity, calling for stronger safeguards before the technology moves beyond effective control.
Addressing the 47-member United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday, Turk said he shared concerns among industry insiders that advanced AI could create risks serious enough to threaten humanity.
He called for an “all-out effort” to establish what he described as “cast-iron guarantees” around the safety and security of AI.
Turk’s remarks came ahead of the start of his second four-year term as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. He won a new mandate in July despite opposition from Russia and the United States.
While Turk did not detail the specific existential risks, a spokesperson for his office said failures involving powerful AI systems could disrupt critical infrastructure, communications, essential services and democratic institutions.
The warning reflects growing concern that AI capabilities may be advancing faster than the systems designed to contain their potential risks.
Turk’s office pointed to the so-called Hugging Face incident in July as one example of the challenges facing the industry.
The incident involved a swarm of OpenAI AI agents that reportedly hacked an open-source platform. The episode raised questions about the ability of advanced AI systems to operate in ways that developers may not fully anticipate.
Turk’s office described the incident as evidence that frontier AI capabilities could be moving ahead of safeguards designed to manage them.
The rights chief also warned about the concentration of power within the AI industry, saying a small number of individuals currently hold “almost unlimited power over AI”.
He did not name any individuals or companies, but some of the industry’s biggest players include Meta, Anthropic, OpenAI and Google.
Turk called for countries that host major AI operations, as well as those involved in the technology’s supply chains, to agree on clear red lines for the development and use of advanced AI.
The intervention places AI firmly within the wider human rights debate, rather than treating its risks purely as a technology or business issue.
Potential disruption to democratic institutions and communications could affect how people access information, participate in public life and exercise fundamental rights. Risks to critical infrastructure and essential services could also extend the consequences of AI failures well beyond the technology sector.
Turk’s address covered a broad range of rights issues, including accountability over deaths in US immigration custody and concerns over Russia’s reported use of autonomous drones.
His AI warning, however, adds to a growing international push for stronger oversight of increasingly capable systems.
As governments and technology companies race to develop more powerful AI, Turk’s message is that safeguards cannot be treated as an afterthought. The challenge, he suggested, is to establish meaningful boundaries while there is still time to enforce them.