<figure id="attachment_3193726" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3193726" style="width: 1600px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-3193726 size-full" src="https://media.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/39ddb8c4-antonio-guterre-fmt-271025-2.webp" alt="Antonio Guterres" width="1600" height="1000" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-3193726" class="wp-caption-text">UN chief Antonio Guterres warned the world could face deeper inequality unless urgent steps on AI were taken.</figcaption></figure>
NEW DELHI: UN chief Antonio Guterres warned technology leaders Thursday of the risks of artificial intelligence, saying its future cannot be left to &#8220;the whims of a few billionaires&#8221;.
Speaking at a global AI summit in India, the UN chief called on tech tycoons to support a $3 billion global fund to ensure open access to the fast-advancing technology for all.
&#8220;AI must belong to everyone,&#8221; he said.
&#8220;The future of AI cannot be decided by a handful of countries &#8211; or left to the whims of a few billionaires,&#8221; he added, warning the world risked deepening inequality unless urgent steps were taken.
&#8220;Done right, AI can&#8230; accelerate breakthroughs in medicine, expand learning opportunities, strengthen food security, bolster climate action and disaster preparedness and improve access to vital public services,&#8221; he said.
&#8220;But it can also deepen inequality, amplify bias and fuel harm.&#8221;
The UN has set up an AI scientific advisory body to help countries make decisions about the revolutionary technology.
Guterres warned that people must be protected from exploitation, and that &#8220;no child should be a test subject for unregulated AI&#8221;.
He pressed for global guardrails to ensure oversight and accountability, and the creation of &#8220;Global Fund on AI&#8221; to build basic capacity.
&#8220;Our target is $3 billion,&#8221; he told the conference, which includes national leaders as well as tech CEOs, including Sam Altman of OpenAI and Google&#8217;s Sundar Pichai.
&#8220;That&#8217;s less than one percent of the annual revenue of a single tech company. A small price for AI diffusion that benefits all, including the businesses building AI.&#8221;
Without investment, &#8220;many countries will be logged out of the AI age&#8221;, exacerbating global divides, he said.
He also cautioned that as AI&#8217;s energy and water demands soar, data centres must switch to clean power, rather than &#8220;shift costs to vulnerable communities&#8221;.

MatchPoint Times

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