The United Nations' Independent International Scientific Panel on Artificial Intelligence (AI) released its preliminary report days ahead of the Global Dialogue on AI Governance in Geneva, Switzerland, next week.
Titled "Preliminary Report of the Independent International Scientific Panel on AI: Evidence-based assessment of opportunities, risks and impacts of AI," the report presents an independent scientific assessment of the capabilities, opportunities and risks arising from AI, while providing a common evidence base to help UN member states navigate the rapid development of this technology.
"This collaborative effort to build a shared understanding of AI comes at a crucial turning point," the panel said in a press release.
Governments across the world are making high-impact decisions about AI amid significant uncertainty, with rapidly evolving, often conflicting, and often unreflective evidence sources and perspectives that do not always reflect local conditions. As AI capabilities continue to advance, the risks and consequences of decisions made worldwide are also growing, a key challenge the panel aims to address, according to the press release.
In its initial report, the panel outlined its findings across seven key areas: AI science, progress, and development directions; societal applications, including in science, health, education, and agriculture; economic implications; security, systems, and environmental implications; human rights, information, and democracy; cultural and individual development, autonomy, and child safety; and management, governance, and reliability.
The panel identified a crucial evidence-based challenge for decision-makers worldwide: policymakers need scientific evidence to effectively regulate AI, but by the time that evidence becomes clear, it may be too late to act, according to the press release.
"Whether or not the potential of AI is realized equitably will depend on informed decisions made jointly by countries and the shared scientific foundations that guide them, the evidence base that the panel's work is intended to provide," the panel said.
Yoshua Bengio, co-chair of the scientific panel on AI, said AI capabilities are evolving faster than scientific understanding and governments' ability to adapt.
"With mounting evidence of deceptive AI behavior, current science cannot guarantee that as AI continues to improve, it will not have catastrophic impacts, either on its own or through malicious users. To act effectively, global policymakers must understand these systems," Bengio said.
Maria Ressa, another co-chair of the panel, said the technology is transformative, but she warned that if the world continues on this trajectory, humanity will not be able to realize its promised benefits.
"The risks... are too high, and the forces driving AI's development are not the forces that will bring its benefits," Ressa said.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the Panel's report presents independent science, compiled from every region, and made available to every government.
"The message is clear: the potential is great, but the risks are real, and the costs of delay are mounting. I urge all leaders to use this collective evidence to act together, and without delay."
