UNESCO chief Khaled El-Enany has proposed that the UN cultural agency act as a facilitator in the global debate over the risks posed by artificial intelligence.
“I believe we are uniquely positioned to make UNESCO a true moderator in this global debate,” El-Enany said ahead of a visit next week by Pope Leo XIV, a prominent advocate of international AI governance.
Concerns over the potential dangers of AI have intensified in recent weeks, with researchers warning that the technology could threaten humanity and industry leaders calling for a slowdown in its development.
“There is a risk that it will get out of control if we don’t intervene,” El-Enany told AFP in an interview.
AI is “an extraordinary tool, but one that must be governed in an ethical, inclusive and fair way,” he said.
“This break, this dialogue that has taken place over the past few weeks, is something very positive,” he added.
El-Enany said UNESCO had found an “indispensable partner” in the head of the Catholic Church.
“This visit will be the beginning of a very solid partnership to strengthen and protect human dignity in this industrial revolution,” the UNESCO director general said.
Pope Leo warned this week against delegating to algorithms decisions that should be made by humans alone.
In his first major document, the encyclical Magnifica Humanitas (Magnificent Humanity), published in May, the pope called for AI to be “disarmed” to “prevent it from dominating humanity”.
Leo, the first US pope, is due to visit UNESCO headquarters next Friday at the start of a four-day trip to France.
