UN approves 40-member scientific panel on the impact of artificial intelligence over US objections

The United Nations General Assembly has voted decisively to establish a new 40-member global scientific panel focused on artificial intelligence, despite strong opposition from the United States. The resolution passed with an overwhelming 117-2 vote, with only the U.S. and Paraguay voting against it.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who spearheaded the panel’s creation, called the decision “a foundational step toward global scientific understanding of AI.” He emphasized the panel’s importance in a rapidly evolving technological landscape: “In a world where AI is racing ahead, this panel will provide what’s been missing — rigorous, independent scientific insight that enables all member states, regardless of their technological capacity, to engage on an equal footing.”

The panel represents the first fully independent global scientific body dedicated to addressing knowledge gaps in AI and assessing its real-world economic and social impacts. Most of the international community, including American allies in Europe and Asia, along with Russia and China, supported the resolution.

U.S. Mission counselor Lauren Lovelace firmly rejected the initiative, describing it as “a significant overreach of the U.N.’s mandate and competence” and stating that “AI governance is not a matter for the U.N. to dictate.” Lovelace emphasized that as the world leader in AI development, the United States intends to maintain its autonomous approach to artificial intelligence policy.

She further noted that the incoming Trump administration would work with “like-minded nations” to advance AI development aligned with shared values rather than submit to international oversight. “We will not cede authority over AI to international bodies that may be influenced by authoritarian regimes seeking to impose their vision of controlled surveillance societies,” Lovelace declared.

The U.S. also expressed concerns about the selection process for panel members, which Guterres defended as transparent. According to the Secretary-General, the 40 experts were chosen from more than 2,600 candidates following an independent review conducted by several U.N. agencies, including the International Telecommunications Union and UNESCO.

Despite U.S. objections, two American experts were appointed to the panel: Vipin Kumar, a University of Minnesota professor specializing in AI and high-performance computing research, and Martha Palmer, a retired University of Colorado professor and linguistics expert whose work involves capturing word meanings for complex sentences in AI systems.

The panel’s composition reflects global representation, with experts from various countries including China. Song Haitao, dean of Shanghai Jiao Tong University and the Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Research Institute, and Wang Jian, a cloud-computing expert at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, will represent Chinese expertise on the panel.

Notably, Ukraine abstained from the vote, citing objections to the inclusion of Russian AI expert Andrei Neznamov, who specializes in AI regulation, ethics, and governance.

The panel also includes experts from diverse backgrounds, including Filipino journalist and 2021 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa, highlighting the U.N.’s intent to examine AI’s impacts beyond purely technical considerations.

This development comes at a critical juncture in the evolution of AI governance, as nations worldwide grapple with regulating rapidly advancing technologies that cross national boundaries and present both unprecedented opportunities and risks. While the European Union has implemented the AI Act and other countries are developing national frameworks, this U.N. panel represents one of the first attempts at establishing a truly global approach to AI assessment and potential governance.

The stark division between the U.S. position and the broad international consensus highlights the growing tensions between national sovereignty in technology policy and calls for coordinated global oversight of technologies with far-reaching societal implications.