The United Nations’ first independent scientific assessment says current safeguards are not keeping pace with AI, and scientists cannot yet rule out catastrophic harm as the technology becomes more capable.
The United Nations released the first report from its new Independent International Scientific Panel on Artificial Intelligence, warning that AI capabilities are advancing faster than governments and even AI researchers can fully understand or manage. The report argues that governments need reliable evidence on how advanced AI systems behave to regulate AI effectively. Still, AI is evolving so quickly that such evidence often lags behind the pace of development.
The panel, composed of 40 independent experts from around the world, concludes that AI is creating enormous opportunities while introducing equally significant risks. But it warns that governments and current knowledge about AI are not keeping pace with the technology’s rapid advancement.
Perhaps the report’s strongest warning came from panel co-chair Yoshua Bengio, who said AI has reached a point where researchers cannot yet guarantee increasingly capable systems will remain safe.
“AI capabilities are outpacing both scientific understanding and governments’ ability to adapt,” Bengio said. “With growing evidence of deceptive AI behavior, science currently cannot guarantee that as capabilities continue to increase, AI will not cause catastrophic harm, either on its own or due to malicious users.”
Rather than calling for specific regulations, the panel says governments need a stronger evidence base for AI policymaking. It argues that waiting for definitive evidence before acting may leave policymakers responding only after serious problems emerge.
The report also points to several risks that are becoming more difficult to manage as AI systems become increasingly autonomous. These include AI systems deceiving evaluators, leaking sensitive information, coordinating with other AI systems in unexpected ways, generating convincing misinformation at scale, and becoming harder for humans to supervise effectively. It concludes that existing oversight methods were designed for simpler software and may no longer be sufficient for AI systems capable of independently performing complex tasks.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said governments need a shared body of evidence to guide AI policy rather than relying on fragmented or competing claims.
“The world cannot govern what it cannot understand,” Guterres said. “The potential is great, but the risks are real, and the cost of waiting is rising.”
The report will be presented to governments during the inaugural UN Global Dialogue on AI Governance in Geneva on July 6-7. The panel plans to publish annual assessments, with its first comprehensive report scheduled for 2027.
