Mideast turmoil, AI set to dominate UN gathering of world leaders

United Nations – As wars rage in the Middle East, Ukraine and Sudan, and fears mount over rapidly advancing AI, world leaders descend on the UN in New York from Tuesday for the world’s signature diplomatic event. US President Donald Trump’s war against Iran and its worldwide fallout are expected to dominate this year’s United Nations General Assembly High-level Week. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will meanwhile urge allies not to lose focus on his country’s defense needs, as Russia retaliates for long-range drone strikes against its energy infrastructure.

“When we see the Russia-Ukraine war, and when we see the whole Middle East, every day things get a little bit worse,” said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres ahead of the gathering. “There is no improvement anywhere, and when things evolve in a way that every day things get a little bit worse, we are at a serious risk of an explosion.” Artificial intelligence will also be a key topic in talks and speeches, with its potential threats to humanity dominating global headlines after tech leaders sounded the alarm. An emergency Security Council meeting is set to be held on the issue.

“This year’s UNGA could be where a plan starts to take shape to define what the world wants from industry’s pledge on safety and who is responsible for monitoring it,” said Nicolas Miailhe, an AI governance expert and co-founder of AI Safety Connect. “The harder part will be agreeing on what that plan looks like and moving it into reality.” Amid fierce competition between the United States and China on AI, Guterres urged more global coordination. “The world cannot afford a race to the bottom on AI safety,” he said.

Behind the scenes, the world’s power brokers will also be wrangling over the UN’s future, seeking to thrash out a deal on a candidate to lead the organization riven with divisions and budget black holes. No breakthrough is expected, but the global powers wielding vetoes over the process — Britain, France, Russia, China and the United States — could well use the gathering to seal a deal. Guterres’s second five-year term ends on December 31, 2026 after a tenure marked by surging global conflict, the coronavirus pandemic, mounting inequality and rampant polarization.

One European diplomat said the selection process was “not very successful so far… any kind of consensus is not emerging.” – ‘Existential threats’ – … As wars rage in the Middle East, Ukraine and Sudan, and fears mount over rapidly advancing AI, world leaders descend on the United Nations in New York from Tuesday for the world's signature diplomatic event. United States President Donald Trump's war against Iran and its worldwide fallout are expected to dominate this year's UN General Assembly High-level Week.

Read: UN assembly approves mandate extension for rights chief, despite US warning "This year's UNGA could be where a plan starts to take shape to define what the world wants from industry's pledge on safety and who is responsible for monitoring it," said Nicolas Miailhe, an AI governance expert and co-founder of AI Safety Connect.