UN rights chief warns AI poses existential risk, demands cast-iron guarantees

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk, in a speech ahead of his unprecedented second term, warned that AI could pose an existential threat to humanity, citing risks to services, communications, and democratic systems. He pledged to press AI firms for 'cast-iron guarantees' and also demanded accountability for deaths in US immigration custody and condemned Russia's reported use of autonomous weapons. The warning signals a shift toward human-rights framing of AI governance at the UN level, though concrete policy actions remain unspecified.