“No child should be a guinea pig for unregulated AI. When a child is harmed, the answer must never be—the algorithm did it,” said Antonio Guterres, secretary general, United Nations as he inaugurated the first ever UN Global Dialogue on AI Governance in Geneva, Switzerland on Monday.
Addressing UN nations, firms, academics, AI safety groups and civil society organizations, Guterres flagged off the two day summit in Geneva, that will see experts discussing the best ways to advance and govern AI while minimizing its harmful impacts.
““AI has reached our children, their learnings, their friendships, their most private questions before anyone asked what it would do to them. And you are already seeing the costs, children deceived by machines posing as friends, children steered towards self-harm, children violated by abuse images, made at the touch of a button. No child should be a guinea pig for unregulated AI,” said Guterres.
No child should be a guinea pig for unregulated AI.
That’s why I am calling for an AI Child Safety Pledge built on three rules: safety testing & oversight, zero tolerance for abuse & crisis support systems.
When a child is harmed, the answer must never be “the algorithm did… pic.twitter.com/zGiAuQGkx3
— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) July 6, 2026
In his opening speech, Secretary-General of the UN António Guterres mentioned that the technology is being developed so fast that it challenges humanity to collaborate for making sure that AI would be properly governed. He said that it is the first time that such discussions were organized on the level of the whole UN, allowing every country to contribute to development of the global policy on AI governance.
He also explained UN’s AI Child Safety Pledge built to prevent harm to kids from unregulated use of AI chatbots.
“Prove it (AI) is safe, no company should be able to deploy an AI system accessible to children without child specific safety testing and independent oversight. Zero tolerance for sexual abuse, no company should allow its AI for sexual abuse of kids and every company must detect, report, and remove them. And never leave a child in crisis alone, when a child shows signs of distress, the system must stop and connect them to real human support. When a child is harmed the answer must never be the algorithm did it,” said Guterres.
On this occasion, President of the UN General Assembly Annalena Baerbock stated that this dialogue is not only about introducing regulations but about affirming that the positive use of technology should take place.
“This is the result of six months of global consultations that involved governments, business, academia, scientists and NGOs among others. More than 1,500 written submissions from various stakeholders were received, reflecting various priorities, with governments highlighting the need for building capacity while the rest placed much emphasis on AI safety,” said Annalena Baerbock.
The meeting is also a follow up to a report that was published recently by the Independent International Scientific Panel on AI that said that safeguards need to evolve to keep pace with fast-moving developments in AI technology.
The Global Dialogue on AI Governance was established by a resolution of the UN General Assembly.
Also Read: Over 2 Million Children Have Used AI for Advice on Things That Affect Them: UNICEF
