The UN has been calling for a “people first” approach to the issue for years.
UN Secretary General António Guterres warned the Security Council back in 2024 that the fate of humanity “should never be left to the ‘black box’ of an algorithm“ and that people must always maintain oversight and control over AI decision-making to ensure human rights are respected.
Since then, the United Nations System has been consolidating work on ethical global governance of AI, building on the guidelines and recommendations contained in the historic Global Digital Compact.
Here is a selection of the key ideas.
1. Education is key
The UN constantly highlights education as central to ensure people remain relevant in an AI-enabled future. It is not just about connecting AI tools to the education system, but about ensuring that students and educators are “AI literate.”
“The global education system will need 44 million teachers by 2030,” says Shafika Isaacs, director of technology and artificial intelligence in education at UNESCO (the United Nations agency for education, science and culture). “We believe it is a mistake to argue that we need to invest more in AI technologies instead of investing in teachers. AI can manage data transfer, but it cannot manage human development. Education is fundamentally a social, human and cultural experience and not a technical download.”
2. Accept the change
Many people around the world are worried about losing their jobs in the age of AI. The NGO World Economic Forum estimated in 2025 that around 41 percent of employers planned to cut their workforce due to AI.
At the same time, new roles are likely to emerge that combine human strengths with machine capabilities, because while machines are excellent at recognizing patterns and repetitive tasks, creativity, judgment, ethical reasoning, and complex interpersonal interactions require a human touch.
Working with global research partners, the International Labor Organization (ILO) has predicted that while one in four jobs is likely to be turned by AI, this does not necessarily mean net work losses.
However, the way work is done is likely to change significantly, placing the onus on workers to be highly adaptable and open to the idea of constantly learning new skills and training throughout their working lives.
Artificial Intelligence is currently revolutionizing the smartphone industry.
3. Make AI available to everyone
A handful of tech giants are driving AI research and dominating the creation of new tools. The UN is concerned that unless access to technology is expanded, inequality between countries and within societies will increase.
The strategies developed by the UN emphasize that educational, economic and governance policies must ensure that the benefits of AI are widely sharednot confined to the privileged or technologically advanced.
4. Put human rights first
The UN has repeatedly emphasized that AI development must respect human rights, dignity and inclusion, and warned that unchecked automation will have far-reaching social consequences.
In 2021, after extensive consultations with global experts, UNESCO published a Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence, which argues that human rights cannot be optional: they must be the binding basis of sustainable AI systems.
The document argues that tools that threaten dignity, equality or freedom should be restricted or banned, and that governments should actively regulate and enforce these standards.
5. The whole world must agree on the way forward
This is not an issue that an individual government, private sector or civil society can address alone, and the UN is calling for much greater international cooperation to manage the risks and opportunities of AI.
This could take the form of governance and ethics dialogues, United Nations-backed coordination platforms, and public-private partnerships to fund education and workforce development.