‘Sinister’: UN chief wants to ban AI autonomous weapons, ‘killer robots’; combat deepfake porn | State
United Nations Secretary General António Guterres is worried about the “sinister” side of artificial intelligence (AI) and is calling for an international ban on “killer robots” in warfare.
Guterres said at an artificial intelligence conference earlier this month that AI chips fueling the machine learning wave “have moved into the battlefields.”
“My main concern is with lethal autonomous weapons systems,” Guterres said at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai on July 17. “Let us call them what they are: killer robots.”
The UN chief does not want autonomous, AI-driven machines and robots taking human lives in warfare without human involvement.
“That is morally repugnant. It is politically unacceptable, and it must be banned by international law,” Guterres said.
Drones, AI, robotics and autonomous systems have already been seen in varying degrees in warzones such as the Russia-Ukraine war, the U.S./Israel war with Iran and Israel’s fights with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The U.S. and other militaries are upping their spending on AI, drones and autonomous systems, sparking concerns about dystopian worst-case scenarios outlined in books and movies such as “The Terminator” and “2001: A Space Odyssey.”
“Some decisions must remain forever human,” Guterres said. “None more than taking a human life.”
Firefighters try to put out a fire at a city marketplace following a Russian missile and drone attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, June 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Dan Bashakov)
The UN chief also voiced concerns about AI-generated, deep ake porn depicting women and girls and wants guardrails aimed at the “sinister” side of machine learning.
UN officials said 99% of deep fake content is sexual in nature with 96% depicting women and girls.
In the U.S. there are laws at the federal level and 45 states related to explicit deepfake content online. The challenge is for platforms to keep up with the proliferation of AI-generated content and such images showing up in darker corners of the web.
UN officials also want to make sure the future paths for AI are not only in the hands of a few companies, wealthy interests and countries.
“One-third of humanity is still offline,” the UN secretary general said, referring to existing and potentially new digital divides.
Estimates range that between 2.2 billion and 2.9 billion mostly lower-income people globally don’t have internet access. The global offline population includes poor households in South Asia and Africa as well as in authoritarian states such as North Korea, Eritrea and Cuba.
President Donald Trump has stressed the need for the U.S. “to win the AI race.”
A figure depicting movie character Terminator, made of automobile transmission parts, is placed near a checkpoint in Kyiv, Ukraine.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
That race, including development of new data centers with significant water and energy needs, is being led by the world’s wealthiest companies and wealthiest billionaires.
Companies spearheading the AI push include Microsoft, Meta Platforms/Facebook, Amazon, Alphabet/Google and Nvidia. Billionaires at AI’s help include Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg.
AI pioneers Anthropic/Claude and OpenAI/ChatGPT are eyeing $1 trillion initial public offerings (IPO).
The UN chief said the world needs to “shape AI” or face scenarios “where it shapes us.”
Gutierrez does see the potential AI could have in helping with education, medical care and farming.
“It could be the great equalizer of the 21st century,” he said.
