Joseph Gordon-Levitt is the UN’s first Global Advocate for Human-centric Digital Governance, a role designed to strengthen public understanding of how digital technologies shape everyday life, rights and opportunities. In this video message to the Global Dialogue on AI Governance, the world’s first international platform on AI convened by the United Nations General Assembly, taking place in Geneva on 6-7 July 2026, he calls for policies that are effective, enforceable and fair in governing Artificial Intelligence.
UN chief António Guterres appealed on Monday for far-reaching, worldwide controls on Artificial Intelligence, as increasingly powerful AI chips that are designed for civilian use shift to the battlefield, where “killer robots” are already the norm.
Addressing the inaugural UN Global Dialogue on AI Governance in Geneva, the Secretary-General also insisted on the need for greater accessibility for the billions of people unable to access the revolutionary tech.
He insisted that any future agreement must be “worthy of global trust” and put safety first – and especially children’s – to protect them from digitally-generated manipulation and abuse.
Narrowing the digital gap
Other priorities for global checks and balances on AI should include locked-in access to the self-learning tech for developing countries, while all AI data centres should be powered by renewable energy by 2030, the UN chief stressed.
Although AI “sits at the heart of our common future”, it needs to be one where “machines can inform, but humans must decide, and answer”, Mr. Guterres told the summit gathered in Geneva, echoing calls for AI rules that he first made to the General Assembly in 2017.
In the three years since AI went mainstream, it has had a revolutionary impact across economies and societies, for better and for worse. Ahead of this, the UN has been leading international efforts to shape controls on the tech, culminating in Monday’s inaugural Global Dialogue on AI in Geneva.
The meeting involves companies, researchers, technical experts and civil society to discuss how to put humanity at the core of the transformative technology. A second Dialogue is scheduled for May 2027 in New York.
"AI is too consequential to be shaped by a few. We need a conversation that is global, inclusive and grounded in evidence," insisted Amandeep Singh Gill, UN Special Envoy for Digital and Emerging Technologies.
‘Great equalizer’
Used well and shared widely, AI “could compress decades of development into years” and become “the great equalizer of the 21st century”, the UN Secretary-General told delegates.
But before this can happen, the technology should be tested thoroughly for safety and legal responsibility assigned:
“When countries align on how to test systems, measure risk and assign responsibility, safety travels with the technology,” he said. “When they do not, a patchwork of incompatible rules raises costs, divides the world – and protects no one.”
Children’s safety and wellbeing should be priority in any future governance accord, Mr. Guterres continued, as he called for nations to adopt an AI Child Safety Pledge. “No child should be a guinea pig for unregulated AI…We do not let medicine reach a child until it is proven safe. We test every toy; yet AI has reached our children – their learning, their friendships, their most private questions, before anyone asked what it would do to them.”
What’s the Child Safety Pledge?
Under the UN child safety pledge, AI developers would need to prove:
• That the tech is safe – no company should deploy an AI system accessible to children without child-specific safety testing and independent oversight;
• Zero tolerance for sexual abuse – no company should allow its AI to generate sexual images of children; every company must detect, report, and remove them;
• When a child shows signs of distress, “the system must stop and connect them to real human support”, the UN chief said. “When a child is harmed, the answer must never be “the algorithm did it,” the UN chief said.
Human rights a priority
As second priority on AI controls, the UN chief stressed that human rights are not negotiable.
“AI must never strip away dignity or entrench discrimination. And in every high-stakes decision – in justice, in healthcare, in policing – machines can inform, but humans must decide – and answer,” he said.
Public funding in AI ‘a rounding error’
In a call for greater public investment in AI, the Secretary-General noted that private funding for AI infrastructure is approximately $500 trillion, while public support for AI capacity in developing countries remains “a rounding error”, by comparison.
To help close this gap, the UN chief announced that more than 20 countries had supported his initiative for a UN-supported Global Network for Exchange and Cooperation on AI Capacity Building.
“We cannot allow the digital divide to harden into an AI divide and the AI divide to become a development gap, a security gap, and a sovereignty gap,” he said.
Noon Briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.
Highlights:
Secretary-General/Travels
Responsibility to Protect
Sudan
Ukraine
Venezuela
Lebanon
Occupied Palestinian Territory
Abyei
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Central African Republic
Myanmar
Senior Personnel Appointment
World Rural Development Day
Briefing
SECRETARY-GENERAL/TRAVELS
The Secretary-General is in Geneva today, where this morning, he took part in the inaugural Global Dialogue on AI Governance.
In his remarks at the Dialogue’s opening session, the Secretary-General said that, used well, and shared widely, Artificial Intelligence could compress decades of development into years. He added that the choice before us is not between faith in AI or fear of it. It is between governing by design, and drifting by default.
He shared four priorities for the road ahead.
First, safety, he said. He called for an AI Child Safety Pledge, so that when a child is harmed, the answer must never be “the algorithm did it.”
Second, the Secretary-General said we need red lines in protecting human rights.
Third, he called for capacity, adding that we cannot allow the digital divide to harden the AI divide.
The Secretary-General added that he will submit to the General Assembly his recommendations for a Global Fund for AI.
And finally, the Secretary-General reiterated his appeal for transparency through his AI Environmental Transparency Initiative, which calls on every major AI company to measure and publicly disclose the full footprint of its systems and to commit to power every data centre with renewable energy by 2030.
He also brought up the issue of lethal autonomous weapon systems, or killer robots. He reiterated his call to have them banned by international law, adding that some decisions must remain forever human, none more than taking a human life.
The Secretary-General expressed the hope that this dialogue will become the place where global participation leads to global action.
Later in the afternoon, at the Palais des Nations, the Secretary-General delivered remarks at a meeting of the International Law Commission. He said that finding legal solutions to today’s crises is a fundamental duty for us all. And shaping the future of international law, by anticipating tomorrow’s challenges, falls with particular weight on this Commission.
Throughout the day, he held a number of bilateral meetings with leaders taking part in the Global Dialogue,
The Secretary-General will back in New York tomorrow.
RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTECT
This morning, Courtenay Rattray, the Chef de Cabinet, delivered remarks on behalf of the Secretary-General at an event marking the 21st anniversary of the adoption of the commitment of the Responsibility to Protect, in which Member States undertook a promise to take collective action, timely and decisive action in line with the UN Charter if a State fails to uphold its responsibility to protect its own people.
In those remarks, the Secretary-General told Member States that the Responsibility to Protect commitment is now more vital than ever, with the world facing more than 120 conflicts in 2025.
He also warned that we need to be proactive and vigilant, and to act before warning signs become mass graves.
Full Highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight?date=2026-07-06
Source: International Criminal Court (video statements)
#ICC Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan visited refugee camps in eastern #Chad to listen to the stories of Darfuri communities displaced by the conflict in #Sudan.
“We want to ensure that the voices of these brave victims are reflected in the work of the #ICC.”
Deputy Prosecutor Khan is on an official visit to Chad in the context of the ICC’s ongoing investigation into the Situation in Darfur.
At first Global Dialogue on AI Governance, UN chief, António Guterres warns about the risks of artificial intelligence AI’s growing autonomy while calling for billions of people left behind to get equal access.
Source: United Kingdom UK Parliament (video statements)
The Petitions Committee has scheduled a debate relating to support for the ceramics industry.
Dave Robertson MP has been asked by the Committee to open the debate. The Government will send a Minister to respond.
Read the petition:
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/764785
Find petitions you agree with, and sign them: https://petition.parliament.uk/
What are petition debates?
Petition debates are ‘general’ debates which allow MPs from all parties to discuss the important issues raised by one or more petitions, and put their concerns to Government Ministers.
Petition debates don’t end with a vote to implement the request of a petition. This means that MPs will not vote on the issues raised in the petition at the end of the debate.
The Petitions Committee can only schedule debates on petitions to parliament started on petition.parliament.uk
Find out more about how petition debates work: https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/326/petitions-committee/content/194347/how-petitions-debates-work/
As Portugal and France battle multiple wildfires, the EU has activated the European Civil Protection Mechanism to provide rapid support.
Firefighters, aircraft and emergency resources from across Europe have been deployed to help protect lives and communities. This summer, a record 777 firefighters, 22 aircraft and 5 helicopters are on standby through the EU’s rescEU fleet and Civil Protection Mechanism to respond whenever needed.
In July 1995, over 8000 Bosniak Muslim men and boys were murdered in Srebrenica by Bosnian Serb forces in a killing recognized by international courts as genocide.
Today, three survivors work at the Srebrenica-Potočari Memorial — keeping the record against those who deny it happened.
This is the opening of The Memory Keepers of Srebrenica, a short documentary produced by the United Nations to mark the commemoration of the Srebrenica genocide.
Full film on the United Nations YouTube channel on 9 July.
Source: United Kingdom UK Parliament (video statements)
The Petitions Committee has scheduled a debate relating to disqualification from election candidacy for terrorism convictions.
John Lamont MP has been asked by the Committee to open the debate. The Government will send a Minister to respond.
Read the petition:
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/759385
Find petitions you agree with, and sign them: https://petition.parliament.uk/
What are petition debates?
Petition debates are ‘general’ debates which allow MPs from all parties to discuss the important issues raised by one or more petitions, and put their concerns to Government Ministers.
Petition debates don’t end with a vote to implement the request of a petition. This means that MPs will not vote on the issues raised in the petition at the end of the debate.
The Petitions Committee can only schedule debates on petitions to parliament started on petition.parliament.uk
Find out more about how petition debates work: https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/326/petitions-committee/content/194347/how-petitions-debates-work/
