Remarks by H.E. Annalena Baerbock
President of the 80th Session of the United Nations General Assembly
at the Informal meeting of the plenary to hear
a briefing on the Independent Scientific Panel on AI
19 June 2026
Trusteeship Council Chamber
[As Delivered]
Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,
It is my pleasure to open this interactive dialogue between the General Assembly and the Co-Chairs of the Independent International Scientific Panel on Artificial Intelligence.
And I am delighted that so many are joining this meeting, underlining how important this topic is and valuing the very important work of the panel, and especially of its two co-chairs.
Let me begin by extending my appreciation to all of you, but also to all different departments of the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ, underlining that this is not only a cross-regional but a cross-sectional issue also for the United Nations.
The appointment of this Panel, in February of this year, reflected a growing recognition among Member States of a simple truth: to govern this powerful and rapidly evolving technology wisely, the international community needs expertise it can trust.
Expertise that is credible, independent, multidisciplinary, and grounded in evidence.
Even as we meet Artificial intelligence is transforming almost every dimension of our lives: our economies, our societies, our public services, our classrooms, our hospitals ¨C at rapid speed.
Providing on one hand, great opportunities to accelerate progress across the Sustainable Development Goals, to lift productivity, and to make better decisions.
On the other hand, we all know at unprecedented speed, how this technology can be turned against us.
Without proper guardrails, the same technology can pose profound risks to human rights, privacy, security, and dignity.
It can accelerate the spread of misinformation, widen digital divides and enable new forms of exploitation, including gender-based violence and sexual abuse through deepfakes.
It can also amplify hate speech.
As one young person warned during the commemorative meeting on the genocide in Rwanda, the other day in the General Assembly Hall, hate speech now moves through screens, pixels, likes and social media platforms, carrying ¡°old lies to new generations and threatening to turn platforms and apps into battlefields¡±.
That warning should stay with us.
Because the same technologies that can connect and empower people can also spread hatred, intimidation and division.
We have also seen growing concern about the ways AI chatbots can affect young people, including reports of teenagers being encouraged towards suicide.
Indeed, one of the recurring lessons of human innovation is that technological progress has often moved faster than our collective ability to govern it well.
And this is exactly why this Panel matters so much.
Member States need access to objective scientific assessment ¡ª the kind that separates evidence from speculation, that identifies opportunities and risks as they emerge, and that gives our policy discussions a foundation worth standing on.
The Panel can be a bridge between the scientific community and the multilateral system, helping ensure that the choices we make here are informed by the best knowledge available to us.
It can do something more.
By offering impartial, comprehensive analysis, the Panel can help narrow the divide between technologically advanced nations and the Global South ¡ª so that participation in AI governance is not the privilege of a select few, but a right shared by all.
And its work, drawing on perspectives and expertise from every region of the world, must reflect that diversity if it is to serve all of us.
Which brings me to why we are gathered in this particular chamber.
The General Assembly is the most universal and representative forum we have.
The one place where every Member State ¡ª regardless of its size, its level of development, or its technological capacity ¡ª can help shape a common understanding of what AI means for our shared future.
No single country, and no single company, should write those rules alone.
Today’s briefing is a step on that road.
It is an opportunity for you to engage directly with the two Co-Chairs, to learn first-hand about the Panel’s progress, and ¡ª just as importantly ¡ª for the Panel to hear your views.
Under the mandate set out in resolution 79/325, the Co-Chairs will return to update this Assembly up to twice a year.
This is therefore the beginning of a continuing conversation, not a one-time exchange.
So as we begin, I encourage you to make it an open and constructive one.
Ask the difficult questions ¨C the challenges, the doubts.
Share your concerns but also your hopes.
And I would also like to encourage the Co-Chairs of the Scientific Panel to be as candid as possible in their reflections with us ¨C the United Nations and the Member States.
We all know how bureaucratic and slow this place sometimes can be ¨C and how fast the AI technology moves.
In this regard, I am very much looking forward to this interaction today, we are here to be honest and timely and evidence-based, together, not only today, but also in the future.
With that, it is my honor to give the floor to our Co-Chairs.
And I look forward to their briefing, and to the dialogue that will follow.
Thank you.
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