UN summit confronts AI’s dawn of wonders and warnings

The UN’s flagship platform on artificial intelligence opened in Geneva on Tuesday, launching four days of high-level dialogue, cutting-edge demonstrations and urgent calls for inclusive AI governance, according to official website of the UN.

The event comes as autonomous and generative systems evolve faster than regulatory frameworks can keep pace.

The AI for Good Global Summit 2025 brings together governments, tech leaders, academics, civil society and young people to explore how artificial intelligence can be directed toward Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – and away from growing risks of inequality, disinformation and environmental strain.

“We are the AI generation,” said Doreen Bogdan-Martin, chief of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) – UN’s specialized agency for information and communications technology – in a keynote address.

But being part of this generation means more than just using these technologies.

“It means contributing to this whole-of-society upskilling effort, from early schooling to lifelong learning,” she added.

Ms. Bogdan-Martin warned of mounting dangers in deploying AI without sufficient public understanding or policy oversight.

“The biggest risk we face is not AI eliminating the human race. It is the race to embed AI everywhere, without sufficient understanding of what that means for people and our planet,” she said.

Her remarks reflected a growing sense of urgency among policymakers and technologists, as new “agentic AI” systems capable of autonomous reasoning and action emerge at unprecedented speed.

With some experts predicting human-level AI within the next three years, concerns about safety, bias, energy consumption and regulatory capacity have intensified.

The summit’s agenda reflects these tensions.

Over 20,000 square meters of exhibit space at Geneva’s Palexpo now hosts more than 200 demonstrations, including a flying car, a fish-inspired water quality monitor, brain-computer interfaces and AI-driven disaster response tools.

Workshops throughout the week will tackle topics ranging from AI in healthcare and education to ethics, gender inclusion and global governance.

One highlight will be the AI Governance Day on Thursday, where national regulators and international organizations will address the gap in global oversight. An ITU survey found that 85 per cent of countries lack an AI-specific policy or strategy, raising alarms about uneven development and growing digital divides.

Health is a prominent theme this year.

On Wednesday, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) will lead a session titled “Enabling AI for Health Innovation and Access,” bringing together technologists, regulators, clinicians and humanitarian leaders to address how AI can improve healthcare delivery – especially in low-resource settings.

Real-world applications – from AI-powered triage in emergency care to diagnostic tools for rural clinics – will be spotlighted, alongside a preview of WHO’s forthcoming Technical Brief on AI in Traditional Medicine.

Experts will also examine the challenges of interoperability, regulatory harmonisation and intellectual property rights at the intersection of AI and global health. The summit will feature the AI for Good Awards, recognising groundbreaking projects that harness AI for public benefit, with categories spanning people, planet and prosperity.

The health track exemplifies the summit’s core goal: ensuring AI serves the public good, especially in areas of greatest need.

Youth-led robotics teams from underserved communities will present solutions for disaster recovery and waste management, while startups compete in the Innovation Factory to showcase AI tools for education and climate resilience.

Live demonstrations include an autonomous orchard robot, a self-sanitising mobile toilet and a drone-eDNA system for scalable biodiversity and pest monitoring.

Closing her keynote, Ms. Bogdan-Martin reminded participants that the future of AI is a shared responsibility.

“Let’s never stop putting AI at the service of all people and our planet,” she said.