The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights today called for “urgent action” to establish a regulatory framework for Artificial Intelligence (AI), in the face of the “unprecedented risks” posed by the most advanced systems.

“I call on states and businesses to urgently mobilize in multilateral forums to establish a course of action for regulating frontier AI models,” Volker Türk said in an open letter sent to governments and companies in the industry.

“We are on the brink of an irreversible transformation that concerns not only us, but also future generations of humanity,” he added, expressing concern that at present “we depend almost entirely on a small number of powerful companies to make the right choices about the development of AI for all of humanity.” Concerns are growing over the consequences of the rapid rise of AI for the future of humanity.

According to the High Commissioner, “all human rights are under threat” from this technology, including the rights to life and food, privacy, health and security.

Even leading figures in the U.S. technology industry have called for a slowdown in the development of the sector.

On Saturday, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei advocated slowing down development in order to better understand the risks arising from AI’s new capabilities. He was publicly supported by his counterpart at OpenAI, Sam Altman, as well as by Elon Musk.

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On Sunday, Donald Trump and members of his party expressed their opposition to slowing down AI development, which has become a key issue in the campaign for the U.S. midterm elections.

“Safeguards”

According to the High Commissioner, “the current race toward increasingly powerful Artificial Intelligence marks a drastic transformation, exposing every aspect of our lives to heightened existential risks.”

“Failures involving agentic AI systems”—interfaces capable of carrying out tasks autonomously—“could cripple essential services, disrupt communications, destabilize critical infrastructure and undermine the very heart of democratic institutions,” Türk warned.

“Entire populations could find themselves without access to drinking water, heating and financial services. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is already accelerating the pace and scale of armed conflicts, while at the same time eroding the safeguards that separate us from the development of weapons of mass destruction,” he continued.

The head of China’s intelligence services also warned on Sunday that Artificial Intelligence poses a threat to national security, as foreign powers could use the technology to destabilize the country.

Türk had already warned the UN Human Rights Council on September 7 that Artificial Intelligence could pose an “existential threat to humanity.”

Today, he urged companies at the forefront of AI development, “which are primarily located in the People’s Republic of China and the United States, to have both the responsibility and the ability to act without delay to mitigate these risks.”

“Industry self-regulation is an urgent first step, but it is not sufficient on its own,” the UN official said, emphasizing that the small number of countries hosting AI leaders must require them to act responsibly and harmonize their rules to prevent competition from leading to a weakening of regulations.

He concluded:

“No country can regulate this technology on its own. No company should be in a position to decide on its own which risks the world should accept.”