UNESCO chief offers agency as AI debate moderator

UNESCO director general Khaled el-Enany has proposed that the UN cultural agency act as a moderator in global talks on the risks of artificial intelligence.

“I believe we are uniquely positioned to make UNESCO a true moderator in this global debate,” el-Enany told AFP as he prepared to welcome Pope Leo XIV to Paris next week.

El-Enany said AI was “an extraordinary tool” but one that must be governed in an “ethical, inclusive, and fair way”. He also warned: “There is a risk that it will get out of control if we don't intervene.”

He said UNESCO had found an “indispensable partner” in the pope. “This visit will be the beginning of a very solid partnership to strengthen and protect human dignity in this industrial revolution,” el-Enany said.

Pope Leo this week warned against delegating to algorithms decisions that should be made by humans alone. In his May encyclical “Magnifica Humanitas”, he called for AI to be “disarmed” to prevent it from “dominating humanity”.

The pope is due to visit UNESCO headquarters next Friday at the start of a four-day trip to France.