From wonders to warnings of the Artificial Intelligence era, everything appeared to be on the table as a major summit bringing civil society and government leaders began Tuesday.
The AI for Good Global Summit 2025 takes place as autonomous and generative systems evolve faster than regulatory frameworks can keep pace.
“We are the AI generation,” said Doreen Bogdan-Martin, chief of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) – the United Nations specialized agency for information and communications technology – said.
But being part of this generation means more than just using these technologies.
“It means contributing to this whole-of-society upskilling effort, from early schooling to lifelong learning,” she said, setting the stage for a lively discussion over the four-day event in Geneva.
Ms. Bogdan-Martin warned of mounting dangers in deploying AI without sufficient public understanding or policy oversight.
“The biggest risk we face is not AI eliminating the human race. It is the race to embed AI everywhere, without sufficient understanding of what that means for people and our planet,” said.
With some experts predicting human-level AI within the next three years, concerns about safety, bias, energy consumption and regulatory capacity have intensified.
Over 20,000 square meters of exhibit space at Geneva’s Palexpo now hosts more than 200 demonstrations, including a flying car, a fish-inspired water quality monitor, brain-computer interfaces and AI-driven disaster response tools.
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Workshops throughout the week will tackle topics ranging from AI in healthcare and education to ethics, gender inclusion and global governance.
One highlight will be the AI Governance Day on Thursday, where national regulators and international organizations will address the gap in global oversight. An ITU survey found that 85 per cent of countries lack an AI-specific policy or strategy, raising alarms about uneven development and growing digital divides.
On Wednesday, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) will lead a session titled “Enabling AI for Health Innovation and Access,” bringing together technologists, regulators, clinicians and humanitarian leaders to address how AI can improve healthcare delivery – especially in low-resource settings.
Real-world applications – from AI-powered triage in emergency care to diagnostic tools for rural clinics – will be spotlighted, alongside a preview of WHO’s forthcoming Technical Brief on AI in Traditional Medicine, set for official launch on the main stage.
Source: UN
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