Sam Altman to brief UN Security Council as frontier AI moves onto international-security agenda

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman will brief the United Nations Security Council next week as the body responsible for international peace and security examines the growing implications of artificial intelligence.

The 15-member Security Council is due to hold a meeting on AI and international security on Wednesday, during the UN General Assembly.

OpenAI says Altman will discuss AI safety, international coordination, shared standards and ensuring countries around the world benefit from the technology.

The appearance is a briefing rather than the announcement of a new UN regulatory regime or Security Council resolution.

AI becomes a security issue

The meeting comes as governments increasingly consider advanced AI in the context of national and international security rather than solely technology regulation.

Concerns include the use of AI in cyber operations, information manipulation and increasingly autonomous military systems.

At the same time, frontier AI companies are developing increasingly capable models and warning about the potential risks associated with more powerful systems.

Altman’s appearance puts one of the industry’s most prominent executives directly before the UN body charged with maintaining international peace and security.

It also illustrates an unusual feature of AI governance.

Companies such as OpenAI develop and operate the frontier systems governments are trying to understand and regulate, giving their researchers substantial technical knowledge about emerging capabilities and risks.

Those same companies also have strong commercial incentives to continue developing increasingly capable technology.

International governments are therefore attempting to establish standards and security policies in an area where much of the expertise and technological capability remains concentrated inside private companies.

Wednesday’s Security Council meeting will not resolve that relationship.

But Altman’s participation demonstrates how far frontier AI has moved beyond the technology industry and into the institutions responsible for international security.

Sources

• Reuters – Sam Altman to brief UN Security Council
• Security Council Report – technologies and international-security risks