Zurich (HRNW)- The United Nations Independent International Scientific Panel on Artificial Intelligence (AI) – the first global body of its kind – is preparing for its inaugural in-person summit as it begins a landmark study on the rapidly evolving impact of AI on modern society.
Tasked with addressing the complex intersection of innovation, governance, and ethics, the panel brings together leading global experts to examine how AI is transforming human life.
“We are not just focusing on AI as a mathematical or algorithmic field: we are also looking at ensuring that humans are central to decision-making,” said Menna El-Assady, assistant professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich) and a founding member of the panel.
Ms. El-Assady, an Egyptian national, is among 40 experts appointed by the UN General Assembly in February. The panel includes representatives from academia, the private sector, civil society, government, international organizations, and the technical community, with expertise spanning AI safety, infrastructure, policy, ethics, and societal impact.
Highlighting the concept of “augmented intelligence,” she emphasized the importance of designing AI systems that enhance human abilities rather than replace them, ensuring stronger cooperation between humans and machines across different sectors.
She also called for the development of a “public digital infrastructure” to ensure wider access to AI tools, along with greater cultural and linguistic inclusion in AI systems to avoid technological concentration in a few countries.
The launch of the panel comes amid growing global concerns over the risks of unregulated AI. UN Secretary-General António Guterres has warned that “humanity’s fate cannot be left to an algorithm,” while UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk has cautioned against AI systems developed without ethical foundations, calling them potentially dangerous.
Experts within the panel are also discussing solutions such as “AI watermarking” to distinguish between human-generated and AI-generated content, as part of efforts to build transparency and trust.
The panel is expected to present its first report at the Global Dialogue on AI Governance scheduled for 6–7 July in Geneva.
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