UN says AI poses 'serious risk' for human rights

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The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights warned on Monday that recent advances in artificial intelligence posed a grave threat to human rights and called for safeguards to prevent violations.

More than 60 countries, including the US and China, demanded this week that AI be governed in defense so that it "does not undermine international security, stability, and accountability."

Concerns about things like AI-guided drones, "slaughter bots" that can kill without human intervention, and the possibility that artificial intelligence could intensify a military conflict have grown. "I am deeply disturbed by the potential for harm of recent advances in artificial intelligence," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said.

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"Human agency, human dignity, and all human rights are at serious risk. This is an urgent call for both business and governments to develop quickly effective guardrails that are so urgently needed," he said.

Artificial intelligence has become a part of our daily lives, revolutionizing internet searches, altering how we keep track of our health, and introducing new innovations like an app that can produce various types of written content in response to a straightforward request.

Critics, however, raised issues such as breaches of privacy and biased algorithms. "We will follow this closely, provide our specific expertise and ensure that the human rights dimension remains central to how this goes forward," Turk said.

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