On Wednesday, Secretary-General of the United Nations António Guterres urged world leaders in politics and business to give global strategy addressing the twin challenges of artificial intelligence and climate change top priority.

Guterres issued a warning about the potential “serious unintended consequences” of AI’s rapid development during a special talk at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

“It’s good to be back and see Davos highlighting the global crisis in trust,” Guterres said in his opening remarks.

“I believe this crisis is the direct result of a paradox facing our world. In the face of [a] series of existential threats, posed by runaway climate chaos and the runaway development of artificial intelligence without guardrails, we seem powerless to act together,” he added.

The main focus of the yearly WEF summit is “Rebuilding Trust.” AI emerged as a key topic of debate during this year’s Davos programme, which according to WEF symbolises a “back to basics” ethos of open and productive communication between politicians, corporate leaders, and civil society.

AI proponents assert that the technology may be used to advance humankind in a number of ways, such as accelerating the diagnosis of patients, assisting in the modelling of climate change, and thwarting cyberattacks.

On Tuesday, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella stated that he thought there should be international cooperation on artificial intelligence (AI), as well as consensus on a set of guidelines and suitable rules for the technology.

With billions of dollars invested in OpenAI, the company that created the well-known chatbot ChatGPT, the American tech behemoth is a prominent player in the battle to develop artificial intelligence.

“Every new interaction of generative AI increases the risk of serious unintended consequences. The technology has enormous potential for sustainable development, but as the International Monetary Fund has just warned us, it is very likely it will worsen inequality in the world,” Guterres said.

According to an IMF assessment released on Sunday, the development of AI might have an impact on about 40% of occupations worldwide. It also issued a warning, stating that most of the time, the possible effects of technology on the global labour market will probably make inequality in general worse.

“Some powerful tech companies are already pursuing profits with a clear disregard for human rights, personal privacy and social impact. This is no secret,” Guterres said, without naming any specific firms.

“These two issues, climate and AI, are exhaustively discussed by governments, by the media and by leaders here in Davos. And yet, we have not an effective global strategy to deal with either,” he said.

“The reason is simple, geopolitical divides are preventing us from coming together around global solutions for global challenges. Little wonder that people everywhere are losing face in governments, institutions and financial and economic systems.”

(Adapted from CNBC.com)