Keynote-António Guterres
19 Feb 2026 10:15h - 10:30h
Keynote-António Guterres
Summary
The United Nations Secretary-General addressed the inaugural AI Summit in the Global South, praising India’s leadership in hosting the event and noting that the venue brings the AI conversation closer to the realities shaping the world, while warning that AI’s future cannot be decided by a handful of countries or a few billionaires [4][5-6][7].
He highlighted two decisive actions taken by the UN General Assembly last year: the creation of an independent international scientific panel on AI, now appointed and composed of 40 leading experts from diverse regions and disciplines, sending a clear message that AI must belong to everyone [8-9][10-12]. Guterres urged member states, industry and civil society to contribute to the panel’s work and to a new global dialogue on AI governance that will give every country and stakeholder a voice, aiming to align efforts, uphold human rights, prevent misuse and establish safety measures and interoperability that build trust across borders [14-18][19-21].
Recognising that many nations risk being left out of the AI age, he announced a proposal for a global AI fund to build basic capacity in developing countries, targeting US $3 billion-less than 1 % of the annual revenue of a single large tech company-to support skills, data, affordable computing and inclusive ecosystems, a modest price for ensuring AI benefits everyone [22-24][25-27][28].
Guterres outlined AI’s potential to advance the Sustainable Development Goals, including breakthroughs in medicine, education, food security, climate action and public services, but warned it could also deepen inequality, amplify bias and increase energy and water demands, requiring clean power and safeguards against shifting costs to vulnerable communities [29][30-31]. He stressed the need to invest in workers so AI augments rather than replaces human potential, and to protect people-especially children-from exploitation, manipulation and abuse [32-35].
Concluding, he called for technology that improves lives and protects the planet, urging that AI be built for everyone with dignity as the default setting, and emphasizing that inclusive, safe and responsibly governed AI is essential for global progress [42-44][43-44].
Keypoints
– Establishment of an independent international scientific panel on AI – The UN General Assembly created a 40-member panel of leading experts to ensure AI “belongs to everyone” and to replace hype with evidence-based knowledge. [8-12]
– Launch of a global, multi-stakeholder AI governance dialogue – A new UN-hosted forum will give governments, industry, academia and civil society a voice, set guardrails that preserve human agency and accountability, and produce interoperable safety measures. [16-19]
– Call for a global AI capacity-building fund – Guterres proposes a $3 billion fund (less than 1 % of a major tech firm’s revenue) to provide skills, data, affordable computing and inclusive ecosystems for developing countries. [24-27]
– Balancing AI’s promise with its risks – AI can accelerate sustainable-development goals in health, education, food security, climate and public services, but it also threatens to deepen inequality, amplify bias, increase energy and water use, and expose vulnerable populations to exploitation and abuse. [29-34][35-41]
Overall purpose/goal
The discussion aims to mobilize international cooperation to make AI a universally accessible, safe, and human-centred technology that supports the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals while preventing misuse, bias, and environmental harm.
Overall tone
The speech begins with a formal, optimistic tone celebrating collaboration and leadership. As the address progresses, the tone becomes increasingly urgent and protective, emphasizing the need for concrete safeguards, substantial funding, and repeated warnings to “protect people from exploitation, manipulation, and abuse.” This shift underscores the seriousness of the challenges ahead while maintaining a hopeful call to collective action.
Speakers
– Antonio Guterres
Role/Title: Secretary-General of the United Nations (His Excellency) [S3][S1]
Area of Expertise:
– Speaker 1
Role/Title: Event host / moderator (introducing the main speaker) [S4][S6]
Area of Expertise:
Additional speakers:
– (none)
Opening & Welcome – Speaker 1 thanked Google CEO Sundar Pichai for his address and introduced the summit, noting India’s role in convening the first AI Summit of the Global South. [1-2]
Antonio Guterres thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the invitation and highlighted the symbolic importance of holding the meeting in India, bringing the dialogue closer to the lived realities of the Global South. [4-6]
He warned that the future of artificial intelligence cannot be left to a small group of states or a handful of billionaires; its trajectory must be shaped by all of humanity. [7]
AI Governance – UN Actions – Guterres recalled two decisive UN General Assembly steps taken last year:
a) the creation of an independent international scientific panel on AI, now fully appointed with 40 experts from diverse regions and disciplines, underscoring that “AI must belong to everyone.” [8-12] [S2]
b) the launch of a UN-hosted global dialogue on AI governance, giving governments, industry, academia, and civil society an equal voice and establishing guardrails to preserve human agency, oversight, and accountability. [13-18]
The inaugural session of this dialogue will be held in Geneva in July, aiming to align efforts, uphold human rights, prevent misuse, and develop interoperable safety measures that build cross-border trust for regulators and businesses. [19-21]
Funding & Capacity-Building – Guterres announced a proposal for a global AI capacity-building fund of US $3 billion, less than 1 % of the annual revenue of a major technology company, to provide skills, data, affordable computing power, and inclusive ecosystems for developing countries. [22-27] [S48]
Potential Benefits & Risks – When deployed responsibly, AI can accelerate progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals by driving medical breakthroughs, expanding education, strengthening food security, bolstering climate action and disaster preparedness, and improving access to vital public services. [29-31] [S13][S52]
Conversely, AI can deepen inequality, amplify bias, and cause harm; its rising energy and water demands require data centres and supply chains to shift to clean power and avoid burdening vulnerable communities. [30-32] [S31]
Human-Centred Safeguards – Investment in workers is needed so AI augments rather than replaces human potential. [32]
Guterres repeatedly emphasized the need to protect people-especially children-from exploitation, manipulation, and abuse, calling for robust safeguards. [33-35] [S51]
Closing Message – He concluded that real impact comes from technology that improves lives and protects the planet, urging all stakeholders to build AI for everyone with dignity as the default setting. [42-44]
Thank you, Mr. Sundar Pichai, for that warm and insightful address. Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, it’s a great honor to invite His Excellency Antonio Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations, to present his address. A global leader championing peace, cooperation, and sustainable progress, please join me in giving him a warm welcome.
Prime Minister Modi, thank you for your kind invitation, and congratulations for India’s leadership organizing the first AI Summit in the Global South. Meeting in India has special meaning. It brings this conversation closer to the realities shaping match of the world. Because the future of AI cannot be decided by a handful of countries or left to the whims of a few billionaires. Last year, the UN General Assembly took two decisive steps. First, creating an independent international scientific panel on AI. And I am happy to announce that the panel has now been appointed. These 40 leading experts from across regions and disciplines embody a clear message. AI must belong to everyone. We must replace hype and fear with shared evidence and close knowledge gaps.
I urge Member States. Industry and civil society to contribute to the panel’s work. work. Second, launching a global dialogue on AI governance within the United Nations, where all countries, together with the private sector, the academia and the civil society, can have a voice. We need guardrails that preserve human agency, human oversight and human accountability. And the first session of the dialogue in Geneva in July will give every country and every stakeholder a voice. To align efforts, uphold human rights and prevent misuse. And to advance our common safety measures, the foundation of interoperability. That builds trust across borders for regulators and businesses and turns compatibility into operability. Your discussions here will culminate in the global dialogue, but without investment, many countries will be logged out of the AI age.
AI must be accessible to everyone. That is why, encouraged by the General Assembly of the United Nations, I am calling for a global fund on AI to build basic capacity in developing countries. Skills, data, affordable computing power, and inclusive ecosystems. Our target is 3 billion US dollars. That is less than 1 % of the annual revenue of a single tech company. A small price for AI must benefit everyone. Done right, AI can advance sustainable development goals, accelerate breakthroughs in medicine, expand learning opportunities, strengthen food security, bolster climate action and disaster preparedness, and improve access to vital public services. But it can also deepen inequality, amplify bias, and fuel harm. As AI’s energy and water demands soar, data centers and supply chains must switch to clean power and shift costs to vulnerable communities.
We must invest in workers so AI augments human potential, not only replaces it. And AI must be safe for everyone. We must protect people from exploitation, manipulation, and abuse. No child should be left alone. We must protect people from exploitation, manipulation, and abuse. We must protect people from exploitation, manipulation, and abuse. We must protect people from exploitation, manipulation, and abuse. We must protect people from exploitation, manipulation, and abuse. We must protect people from exploitation, manipulation, and abuse. We must protect people from exploitation, manipulation, and abuse. Excellencies, the message of this summit is simple. Real impact means technology that improves lives and protects the planet. So let’s build AI for everyone with dignity as the default setting.
Thank you.
“Speaker 1 thanked Google CEO Sundar Pichai for his address and introduced the summit, noting India’s role in convening the first AI Summit of the Global South.”
The transcript records Sundar Pichai delivering a keynote address and Guterres explicitly thanking India for organising the first AI Summit of the Global South, confirming both elements of the claim [S21] and [S2].
“Antonio Guterres thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the invitation and highlighted the symbolic importance of holding the meeting in India, bringing the dialogue closer to the lived realities of the Global South.”
Guterres’ opening remarks thank Modi and stress that meeting in India has special meaning by bringing the conversation closer to the realities of the world, matching the report’s wording [S2].
“The UN General Assembly created an independent international scientific panel on AI, now fully appointed with 40 experts from diverse regions and disciplines.”
UN documents note the establishment of an Independent International Scientific Panel on AI during the 2023 General Assembly session, confirming the panel’s creation though the exact number of experts (40) is not specified in the available sources [S9].
“The UN launched a global dialogue on AI governance that gives governments, industry, academia, and civil society an equal voice.”
The UN’s launch of a Global Dialogue on AI Governance, intended to bring together governments, industry, academia and civil society on an equal footing, is documented in the UN briefing [S9] and further described in the UN-role overview [S41].
“The inaugural session of this dialogue will be held in Geneva in July.”
An information session for the Geneva Dialogue is scheduled for 3 July 2023, confirming that the first UN-hosted AI governance dialogue is set to take place in Geneva in July [S62]; additional background on the dialogue’s objectives is provided in [S59].
“When deployed responsibly, AI can accelerate progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals by driving medical breakthroughs, expanding education, strengthening food security, bolstering climate action and disaster preparedness, and improving access to vital public services.”
UN briefing on a digital future for all states that AI can help achieve SDGs across health, education, climate and other sectors, aligning with the report’s description of AI’s potential benefits [S13].
“AI can deepen inequality, amplify bias, and cause harm; its rising energy and water demands require data centres and supply chains to shift to clean power and avoid burdening vulnerable communities.”
Analyses of AI’s societal impact note that AI systems can amplify existing biases and exacerbate inequality, and that sustainable deployment requires clean energy for data-centre operations, supporting the risk description in the report [S66] and [S64].
The transcript shows a clear convergence on the theme that AI must be governed inclusively and that India’s leadership in convening the summit is widely recognised. While most of the substantive policy proposals come from Antonio Guterres, the only other speaker aligns on the host country’s role, indicating limited but focused consensus.
Moderate consensus on inclusive AI governance and on acknowledging India’s leadership; the agreement is limited to a single shared point, suggesting that broader policy alignment will depend on further multistakeholder engagement.
The transcript shows strong convergence on the principle that AI should be a global public good and that safeguards for human rights, especially child protection, are essential. No explicit conflict is voiced between the two speakers; the only divergence is in the means to achieve inclusivity—Speaker 1 emphasizes India’s summit leadership, whereas Guterres proposes UN‑anchored multistakeholder dialogue and a dedicated global fund.
Minimal direct disagreement; the discussion is largely complementary. The implication is that while political leaders may champion national initiatives, the UN seeks to institutionalize inclusive AI governance and financing, suggesting a need for coordination between host‑country efforts and global mechanisms.
The discussion was shaped primarily by Antonio Guterres’s remarks, each of which introduced a new dimension—institutional governance, inclusive dialogue, financing, developmental benefits, environmental sustainability, human rights, and a unifying ethical vision. These comments acted as turning points that moved the conversation from a generic endorsement of AI toward concrete, multilateral actions and responsibilities. By repeatedly linking AI to the UN’s broader agenda and framing challenges as solvable through collective, well‑funded effort, the remarks deepened the dialogue, broadened its scope, and set a collaborative, values‑centered agenda for the summit.
Disclaimer: This is not an official session record. DiploAI generates these resources from audiovisual recordings, and they are presented as-is, including potential errors. Due to logistical challenges, such as discrepancies in audio/video or transcripts, names may be misspelled. We strive for accuracy to the best of our ability.
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