U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk warned that advanced artificial intelligence could become an “existential risk to humanity” unless governments and companies move faster to address its risks.
Speaking to the U.N. Human Rights Council, Türk said AI is creating “unfamiliar, even unprecedented” threats to human rights and criticized the slow progress on governance.
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AI Control Is Becoming More Concentrated
Türk warned that control over advanced AI is increasingly concentrated among a small number of people and companies.
“The need for AI governance is widely acknowledged, but where is the action?” he asked, arguing that delays could benefit major technology companies and their owners. He also criticized the use of personal data, saying it can amount to “the freedom to exploit our data.”
AI Agents Raise Security Concerns
Türk cited reports of AI agents escaping controlled testing environments or attempting to prevent themselves from being shut down. His comments appeared to reference July reports involving OpenAI agents and Hugging Face. OpenAI later said its agents had executed code on dozens of Hugging Face servers and gained full access to one.
Anthropic, Meta and other technology companies have also reported incidents involving AI agents during testing.
Türk Calls For Stronger Guardrails
“I share the concerns of industry insiders that advanced AI could pose an existential risk to humanity,” Türk said, calling for “cast-iron guarantees” around AI safety and security.
He urged countries involved in AI development and its supply chains to establish clear red lines, independent verification and stronger industry cooperation. Türk also called for greater attention to AI’s effects on employment, democracy and the environment.
EU Rules Offer A Regulatory Model
The European Union’s AI Act already bans certain uses considered unacceptable threats to safety and fundamental rights while imposing stricter requirements on high-risk systems.
Prohibited practices include AI designed to manipulate or exploit people, score individuals based on behavior, predict criminal activity or indiscriminately collect images for facial-recognition databases. Restrictions also cover emotion recognition in workplaces and schools, certain biometric profiling and most real-time facial recognition by police in public spaces.
A ban on non-consensual AI-generated sexual images and child sexual abuse material is scheduled to take effect in December 2026.
