Leaders at the UN General Assembly set the stage for a global debate on how technology can shape humanity’s future, balancing its vast promise with urgent calls for stronger safeguards.
Both events are designed to encourage collaboration and exchange across governments, intergovernmental organizations, businesses, the technical community, academia, and civil society.
The UN Security Council held a high-level open debate on artificial intelligence on 24 September, chaired by Republic of Korea President Lee Jae Myung. UN Secretary-General António Guterres and expert speakers warned that AI, while offering opportunities for development, also poses risks ranging from cyberattacks to autonomous weapons. Council members voiced concerns over military misuse, digital inequality, and the need for global rules, with differing views on whether governance should be centralized or left to national frameworks.
Under the deal, TikTok’s U.S. operations will be run by a new American-led joint venture, with strict safeguards on data storage, algorithms, and oversight. President Trump’s executive order pauses enforcement of earlier bans for 120 days to complete the divestiture.
The changes aim to cut paperwork, provide legal clarity, and help growing businesses remain competitive, with final negotiations now moving to the European Parliament.
The signatories include several Nobel Prize winners, former heads of state, and prominent researchers such as Geoffrey Hinton, Ian Goodfellow, and Yoshua Bengio. Others lending their support are OpenAI co-founder Wojciech Zaremba, historian Yuval Noah Harari, and actor and writer Stephen Fry.
The day-long program brought together government leaders, business executives, academics, and civil society representatives to address AI governance, digital public infrastructure development, and inclusive digital economies.
Civil society groups are warning that the EU’s landmark AI Act risks becoming an empty promise unless Member States urgently implement it at national level. In an open letter, 31 organisations called on the European Commission and governments to pass laws, appoint oversight authorities, and ensure adequate resources, stressing that without immediate action, people’s rights will not be protected from harmful uses of artificial intelligence.
A joint investigation by Canada’s federal and provincial privacy authorities has found that TikTok’s safeguards to protect children from having their personal information collected and used were not adequate. The inquiry was carried out by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada along with counterparts in Quebec, British Columbia, and Alberta. Although TikTok’s rules [...]
Tech giant Oracle is set to receive a copy of TikTok's algorithm to manage the app's operations for US users as part of an agreement addressing national security concerns.
Civil Society Alliances for Digital Empowerment (CADE) is a project co-funded by the European Union.
