UN Forms Global AI Advisory Panel

The UN's new 40-member panel was selected from over 2,600 applicants and includes specialists in machine learning, data governance, public health, and human rights from all five UN regions. Panelists serve in their personal capacity, independent of any government or institution, and include figures like journalist and Nobel laureate Maria Ressa. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stated the panel's goal is to help the world "separate fact from fakes, and science from slop," providing a reliable reference point as AI technology accelerates. The body will deliver regular scientific reports on AI's real-world impacts to bridge knowledge gaps among member states. The creation of the panel was approved by the UN General Assembly with a 117-2 vote. The United States and Paraguay voted against the measure, with a U.S. counselor calling the panel "a significant overreach of the U.N.'s mandate and competence" and expressing concern over potential influence from authoritarian regimes. The recent Dartmouth conference marked the 70th anniversary of the 1956 Dartmouth Summer Research Project on Artificial Intelligence, an eight-week brainstorming session that is widely considered the founding event of the field. It was at this event that the term "artificial intelligence" was first coined by organizers John McCarthy, Marvin Minsky, Nathaniel Rochester, and Claude Shannon. While the original 1956 workshop asked if machines could be made to simulate learning and other features of intelligence, the 2026 conference shifted its focus. The new central question explored by experts was how humans can think, create, and make ethical decisions alongside increasingly powerful machines. The UN's panel joins a landscape of other international efforts to govern AI. Organizations like the OECD, UNESCO, and ISO have already established principles and standards for responsible AI, focusing on areas like human rights, transparency, and accountability.