Artificial intelligence debated for the first time at the UN Security Council

The United Nations Security Council is due to debate artificial intelligence for the first time on Wednesday in New York. The leaders of OpenAI and Anthropic are expected to speak to the members of the Council, alongside Frenchman Clément Delangue, co-founder of the Hugging Face platform.

This session marks a step in the growing involvement of multilateral bodies in issues related to artificial intelligence, a subject that has long remained outside the formal discussions of the Security Council, traditionally focused on issues of international peace and security in the classic sense of the term.

France withdraws from a joint statement

On the eve of this session, on Tuesday, France stayed away from a statement made by some twenty countries, calling for binding measures in the face of the race for artificial intelligence. The precise reasons for this choice have not been detailed in the available information.

This distancing comes at a time when the issue of the regulation of artificial intelligence continues to divide states, with some advocating for legally binding frameworks while others favour more flexible approaches, based on voluntary cooperation between public and private actors.

The debate in the Security Council could thus highlight the persistent divergences between countries on how to regulate a technology whose rapid development continues to raise questions in terms of security, ethics and international governance.