UN panel warns AI safeguards lag as Global South excluded from development and governance
- The Independent International Scientific Panel on AI (40 members) published a preliminary global assessment saying safeguards are failing to keep pace with rapidly growing AI capabilities.
- The report found the Global South remained largely shut out of AI development and governance, leaving regions most exposed with the least capacity to respond.
- Co-chairs Yoshua Bengio and Maria Ressa warned of accelerating capability, concentration of power and diminishing control; they cited deceptive AI behaviour and said science cannot currently guarantee AI will not cause catastrophic harm.
- The panel’s assessment was sent to every government and will inform the inaugural Global Dialogue on AI Governance in Geneva (July 6–7); the report covers eight domains and is policy-relevant but not policy-prescriptive.
Arab News · 2026-07-02