U.N. General Assembly passes resolution on AI safety, trustworthiness

March 21 (UPI) -- The United Nations General Assembly on Thursday unanimously adopted a United States-led resolution establishing a baseline to regulate artificial intelligence.

The resolution calls on U.N. member states to "promote safe, secure and trustworthy AI systems" to address issues related to "poverty elimination, global health, food security, climate, energy and education."

"This is a historic step toward fostering safe, secure, and trustworthy AI systems," U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said in a post on X.

While the resolution is not legally binding and does not include a method of enforcement, co-sponsors of the resolution said consensus from member nations is important to establishing guardrails on the rapidly developing technology.

Over 100 member nations co-sponsored the measure, including China, which was a rare diplomatic victory for the United States. China has long been monitoring emerging AI technologies and responded with continuously evolving regulatory procedures.

The resolution also follows the E.U. Parliament's adoption of the landmark Artificial Intelligence Act. Among its many regulations is a ban on certain AI systems that scrape facial images from the Internet to create facial recognition databases.

The French government on Wednesday cracked down on Google for training AI on news articles without notifying the publishers. The competition authority said it fined Google $271 million after publishers complained Google used their content without paying for it.

Co-sponsor nations said the resolution is in support of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. All 193 member nations in 2015 agreed to work toward the agenda's 17 goals -- which include ending extreme poverty and tackling climate change -- but those efforts are far off track.

During the more than three months of negotiations leading up to adoption of the resolution, developing countries suggested the inclusion of language that recognized the risk AI presents to jobs and the necessity of basic infrastructure, such as electricity and broadband Internet to ensure fair access to AI.

"Too often, in past technological revolutions, the benefits have not been shared equitably, and the harms have been felt by a disproportionate few," Vice President Kamala Harris said in a statement. "This resolution establishes a path forward on AI where every country can both seize the promise and manage the risks of AI."

Thursday's resolution marks the first major effort to engage the global south in establishing a common AI framework. Previous international AI discussions have been contained to the most powerful nations at forums such as the G-7 and G-20.