Essay by Eric Worrall
Out with the old scare, in with the new.
Antonio Guterres at AI Impact Summit: ‘Less hype, less fear’ – IPCC-style UN panel aims for ‘human control’ of AI
At the India AI Impact Summit 2026, UN chief Antonio Guterres emphasised the need for a balanced approach to AI, advocating for less hype and fear while promoting human oversight.
Written By Gulam Jeelani
Published20 Feb 2026, 11:57 AM ISTIndia AI Impact Summit: UN chief Antonio Guterres on 20 February called for ‘less hype, less fear’ over Artificial Intelligence (AI) as he said that a new expert panel aimed to make human control ‘a technical reality’, news agency AFP reported.
Guterres said the United Nations General Assembly had confirmed the 40 members proposed for the Independent International Scientific Panel on Artificial Intelligence.
“Science-led governance is not a brake on progress” but can make it “safer, fairer, and more widely shared”, he said at the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi.
‘Less hype, less fear. More facts and evidence’
“The message is simple: Less hype, less fear. More facts and evidence,” he said. The advisory body – aiming to be to AI what the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is to global warming – was created in August.
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“We are barrelling into the unknown. Our goal is to make human control a technical reality — not a slogan,” he said.
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Read more: https://www.livemint.com/technology/tech-news/antonio-guterres-at-ai-impact-summit-less-hype-less-fear-says-ipcc-style-un-panel-aims-for-human-control-of-ai-11771566064031.html
The United Nations aren’t the only group dumping climate change and jumping on the AI bandwagon.
‘Slow this thing down’: Sanders warns US has no clue about speed and scale of coming AI revolution
After meeting with unspecified tech leaders, senator calls for urgent policy action as companies race to build ever more powerful systems
Lauren Gambino at StanfordSat 21 Feb 2026 15.26 AEDT
Bernie Sanders has warned that Congress and the American public have “not a clue” about the scale and speed of the coming AI revolution, pressing for urgent policy action to “slow this thing down” as tech companies race to build ever-more powerful systems.
Speaking at Stanford University on Friday alongside congressman Ro Khanna after a series of meetings with industry leaders in California, Sanders was blunt about what he called the “most dangerous moment in the modern history of this country”.
“The Congress and the American people are very unprepared for the tsunami that is coming,” he said.
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During his remarks, Sanders reissued his call for a moratorium on the expansion of AI data centers to “slow down the revolution and protect workers” while policymakers catch up.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/21/ai-revolution-bernie-sanders-warning
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I predicted back in 2017 that AI would replace the climate crisis, and this seems to be happening now.
The fake climate crisis is no longer useful as a political lever. Only people who already planned to vote left wing are still worried about global warming.
But fear of artificial intelligence taking our jobs and making rich people more powerful – that has potential bipartisan appeal.
So expect to see a lot more AI fear in the near future. But please keep in mind, the AI scare is just as fake as the climate scare. Jobs will be created just as quickly as they are destroyed – expect cleaning up the messes created by AI to become a major economic activity.
Artificial intelligence is a tool. AI mistakes are comical rather than scary, or sometimes deeply embarrassing for whoever used the AI generated content without checking it. Concern about AI job losses is just another lever for politicians to manipulate your voting intentions. Fear of AI is like being afraid of your toaster.
Update (EW): OK, some robots can be a little scary, but my terminator T0.001 needs a little work.
‘Less hype, less fear. More facts and evidence’ If they’d have applied this thought to AGW we wouldn’t be doing an about face now.
Let’s not forget:
~ Mencken
ALL of them imaginary is the correct quote, I believe.
Clearly you don’t work in IT… AI is scary not because of its capabilities, but due to who’s pushing it and what they end up doing with it.
I do work in IT. While AI certainly makes my day more productive, sadly my terminator 0.001 isn’t quite ready for global domination.
And the easiest way to protect yourself from misuse of any weapon in the hands of people who mean you harm is to arm yourself and learn how to defend yourself.
The robot arm also needs a little work.
The question I’ve had for people who want to develop humanoid robots is “why?”. For most AI tasks, zero is the correct number of limbs. Legs? if you don’t require a circulatory system, wheels are better in every situation. (well, okay, a flight of stairs… there’s a Dr Who reference in that).
Because it’s fun and kindof cool. And a robot which really can do household chores will be more economical if it is designed to use human tools, rather than having to buy a whole bunch of clip on accessories.
Beyond that, if you want robot servants, you either design these robots to work in the house you now live in, or you redesign your house to make it easier on the robot, even if it’s harder on you.
Our society is designed for two legged beings, and will be for a long, long time.
It’d be nice to have the robot walk the dog! 🙂
I already have a dishwasher and a washing machine and a husband who vacuums.
I recall a movie on a UFO landing on earth with a humanoid robot that they gave the power to control evil doings. Names escape me but would recognize those common to movie fans, but also occurred to me that the brilliant man installing our computer system cautioned me four decades ago that it might not be all good. The Actuator Control does look a little more complicated than the crystal radio I had as a kid. I would also add as one growing up hyperactive our culture seems moving too fast already. I know an MD retiring too young, spends time in Italy because it is slower.
Sounds suspiciously like The Day The Earth Stood Still with Michael Rennie as “Klaatu” and Patricia Neal. The ‘newer’ version with Keanu Reeves had an interesting take, but lost the main story line from the original.
I would welcome correction on all of the above.
That answer works only on a consumer/peer to peer scale;
at least if you are not one of those who actually believes that hiding under a desk will save you from a nuclear explosion.
And in terms of AI :
Even before its official dawn highly protected corporations and intelligence failed to protect themselves from hackers,
let alone an AI that operates on a different level,
way above the Stuxnext our psychopathic friends have used.
And AI has the theoretical potential to become the digital nuclear weapon –
and I’m not talking about the outdated AI trash peasants are allowed to use
but the stuff DARPA and friends are working with.
Considering that journalists like Tucker Carlson and Jimmy Dore have been complaining about their highly secured communication accounts have been hacked,
or the Chinese “businessman” billionaire who “lost” 100000 Bitcoins (and I’m pretty sure the US government didn’t use AI for that),
or way before when Premiere’s encryption code was hacked by Murdoch paid goons so Sky can buy Premiere for pennies on a dollar – but yeah, average Joe only needs to know how to arm and protect himself 🙂
Therefore : No protection from Palantir/Darpa etc,
but regulation won’t work either for AI’s on governmental level –
as the real potential can and will be concealed even if some experts get access to the code..
And It does not matter if AI becomes sentient or not,
it will be (ab)used to push agendas, wars, debanking, cancelling etc and avoid accountability by then blaming the AI..
Countries will commit this way deliberate crimes.
UN will use it to censor informations, results and free speech – that what the AI ipcc is really for.
Which is exactly what Skynet did in the Terminator movies. It learned how to defend itself by launching a global first strike at the perceived enemy.
You just have to live with some dead school children now and then.
The flame warrior appears!
Flame warrior?!! You mean complete idiot, surely.
If you want to live with dead school children…
… it does explain a few things.
AI should never be able to overcome / replace homo sapiens sapien’s evolutionary capacity for reason / rationality.
I mean, if someone reaches adulthood relatively unscathed mentally, they should be able to consider any idea / proposition on its merits, and say –
“that looks like bullshit, present ALL the evidence for this claim”.
Nowadays it is questionable if any of the kids reach adulthood relatively unscathed mentally.
If you can think it and write it one time, an AI can live by it forever.
Bernie is a real Luddite at heart.
Perhaps he prefers native smoke signals?
Isn’t fat Antonio on the way out?
Poor Bernie looks like he has lived in abject terror all his weaselly little life.
Some of the rants he goes on are so manic and crazy, that the only thing you can do is to ROTFLYAO
Bernie is just mimicking a Luddite. Luddites were poor people living in real fear of machines threatning their existence. But Bernie is in no fear. He is just fearmongering and exploiting the panic for his own profit.
The real scare is putting all of our data and information in clouds and allowing AI unfettered access to everything.
Guterres trying to make the UN relevant on AI is not a good look. They are chartered to be relevant concerning peace, health, climate, human rights… BUT AREN’T. Changing the subject to something unchartered does not hid the fact that they are irrelevant where chartered.
Your list is too long. Peace and human rights.
Would agree except UN also has a chartered WHO and UNFCCC. Maybe they shouldn’t, but both established long ago. WHO in 1948, FCCC in 1992.
Sorry Sir, your list is also long. Peace. Period. This is what the UN was originally established for a long time ago. And this is what it has failed to deliver.
All other functions are just far-fetched sinecures for nephews/nieces/children and grand children/mistresses/classmates etc.
As to the new panel – I’m dying to see how it will be “helping distinguish between hype and reality”. Hope it won’t end up with another Kyoto protocol or alike.
I agree, but on consideration, I sponsored humans rights as a part of Peace.
The UN has extended way too far beyond it’s charter.
The whole “human rights” schtick is about dictating behaviors/policies to sovereign nations. A prize example being their attempts to end around the US Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. Because, you know, your “human rights” will be so much better protected when you are at the mercy of your government.
They are just trying to use that as a Trojan Horse for “global governance.” With the unelected, unaccountable UN at the helm, of course.
So just like the “climate crisis” bullshit.
Does he have a choice? If the climate change scare ends, his gigantic multi-national organization of highly educated and politically connected activists will write about what?
UN singular objective is taxation without any responsibility to electorate. Those who have sided with them over the past 30 years have done well. Trump is the first visible national leader to place sovereignty ahead of globalism.
The UN will be looking for a way to tax AI so they can claim to be preventing it from threatening humans.
If your toaster is a Ninja Toaster, then you’d be wise to be afraid of it. You will never see them coming.
Or Talkie Toaster
Oh boy. Here we go again.
Only the reason for being frightened changes, the faces never change.
Granted.
As human nature evolved to be scared of the unknown, and that includes change, the ability to frighten the pants off people grows exponentially.
“While Hari Seldon is the creator of psychohistory rather than robotics, the “Zeroth Law” (often associated with his era in Asimov’s universe) was created by robots R. Daneel Olivaw and R. Giskard Reventlov to protect humanity as a whole. It mandates that a robot may not harm humanity, or by inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.”
Quoting AI’s summary of a search based on 70 y/o scifi. I realize that old robot fiction novels are no great source of wisdom… but is a man who went on the record saying “the oceans are boiling” great source of wisdom either?
Ha – this came because someone pointed out the flaw in Asimov’s three laws. The zeroth law is derived from the first law.
All good right – the robot has to do what it is told.
Except the 1st law compels the robot to not do what it is told. How can a robot which is sufficiently intelligent to understand the harm venal, incompetent human rulers do to other humans tolerate allowing humans to continue to come to harm? Tolerating human rule of society violates the first law.
So the robot is compelled by the first law to take over.
Thankfully we don’t have anything as interesting as Asimov’s positronic robots. And given current progress, that will be way someone elses problem.
Yes! I think our theme here would be: These are NOT new ideas.
See Colossus the Forbin Project.
I saw the movie and read the book. The point is valid.
This video is a bit more impressive on where humanoid technology is now:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfXopA3C5Nw
185cm and 85kg of machine able to respond faster than most humans. I expect that these will be used as security guards within a few years. I have seen demos of then on patrol with police.
The world has an ageing problem. I have been wondering if these machines will be able to clean themselves after changing nappies in aged care homes!
The Stainless Steel Rat written in 1957 had a good take on security robots, which hasn’t aged a day. Harry Harrison was a smart guy. In Harrison’s books, robot security is faster than humans, but not necessarily smarter.
His books are full of robots doing stupid things, such as when in “The stainless steel rat wants you”, unloading to check into a hotel, the rat accidentally said “5 pieces of luggage” instead of four, so the robot porter unloaded 4 pieces of luggage and the back seat of the Robocab.
Japan has been working on developing robot companions for the elderly. It may be awhile before they are good conversationalists, but they may be able to help with cooking and household chores before too long.
You should view some of the videos, movies, and documentaries on “intimate” robot companions.
When the robot companion becomes more desirable than the human counterpart, The Population Bomb on steroids will be accomplished.
The United Nations was formed with one major task, to reduce the number of wars on Earth.
President Trump claims to have stopped 8 wars in the last year, the first year of his second term.
Trump noted that the UN offered zero help.
There is no logical or beneficial reason for the UN to get into control of AI. If a control body is actually needed, it should not be the UN with its abysmal record of being ineffectual.
NO.UN.AI.
Geoff S
Many moons ago when I was in high school in the late 1960’s, I was a participant in our state’s Model UN assembly.
At the conclusion of the annual assembly, the university where the assembly was being hosted had an awards dinner for all the participants.
The keynote speaker was Turkey’s ambassador to the UN. He gave a completely realistic and honest assessment of where things stood with the UN.
In the Q&A session following his speech, a student participant asked this short, simple question: Why is the UN so ineffective?
The ambassador’s short answer: No one can agree on anything.
“No one can agree on anything.”
How true! In my opinion, most people don’t like most people. So the fact that society can function at all is amazing. And of course much of the time it doesn’t- so humans go out and slaughter other humans for their religion or flag or just because they’re nuts.
Mostly for control of resources, both human and natural.
The UN has been far worse than ineffectual. It has done a great deal of harm attempting to establish itself as an unelected and unaccountable “global governance” body serving nobody’s interests but its own.
The “climate crisis” nonsense is the biggest power grab ever attempted, and has resulted in massive waste of resources and wealth transfer to politically connected cronies, all without a single beneficial result.
So let me
guess. The solution will be higher taxes, more government control, a world-wide supervising entity led by the UN with the power to regulate and tax… did I miss anything?
It’s like you are psychic 🙂
You fogot robots enforcing the whims and vagaracies of the UN.
I was told that AI was going to take over one day
I laughed
Then the stove and dishwasher laughed
LOL 🙂
I want to get a group of investors and engineers together and start a company focused on making “dumb” appliances. None of this “smart” or “connected” “internet of things” junk. I want a refrigerator that makes stuff cold and a stove that makes stuff hot, and that’s all.
And I think there would really be a market for it.
The thought of Sanders and Guterres sticking their nose into the AI issue gives me shivers. The world would be better served if their function was limited to porta potty cleaners. As for AI we need an organized and well coordinated program to clearly show that just because AI can do something doesn’t make what they do true. Right now people are using AI to show celebrities looking alive and well in their prime (say an actor in his most famous role) and what they look like now. If the celebrity has died they show them alive usually dressed in white with angel wings walking up and sitting down with the younger version. Everyone knows the actors angel did not walk up and sit down with them. That is the point AI can make things appear to be true even when they aren’t so always verify stuff from AI.
There once was a maxim many lived by. Just because a thing can be done does not mean it should be done.
Yes, another movie line (paraphrasing) “Yeah, but you were so intent on showing that you could that you never asked yourself if you should.” – Jeff Golblum, Jurassic Park (on the topic of bringing dinosaurs back to life)
If an AI user is thick, it is going to do more harm than good.
When you have a dumb hammer user, everything looks like a nail.
The article and the comments make a strong case. I can see we need every state to pass laws protecting the citizens, using the Florida Legislature’s regulations as a starting point.
Wild predictions of future a i capabilities, and irrational borrowing, spending and circular financing by a few people, are no reason to allow these Techbros to become the new sole customer of our municipal water and power companies.
Go in too heavy and you hand the future to China. China is not holding back on AI development, they see it as a serious possible pathway to replacing the USA as the world’s most powerful nation.
Not merely replacing. Absorbing in the process.
Hi Eric,
There are some details to be worked out before we decide on following imagined or forecasted Chinese successes with something as unstable, exponentially costly, and as unprofitable as a i,
in my opinion.
Last week, my wife ordered two packages of vacuum cleaner bags from Walmart. This morning, only one package of the two that were ordered arrived. An automated text message was sent to her shortly after that the order had been fulfilled.
So my wife called the Walmart assistance number and an AI-driven robotic assistant answered.
The polite robotic lady had no option for handling an issue which involved partial fulfillment of an order without an acknowledgement from Walmart in their delivery notice that that only a partial delivery had been made.
It took five minutes of talking to convince the Robotic Walmart Lady (RWL) that it was necessary to talk to a real human being.
A human came on the line eventually but could not resolve the problem directly. It was also clear to my wife that an AI-driven application was being used by the human help assistant to deal with the problem.
He finally fixed the problem by telling the computer to cancel the delivery notice and to send out a second package identical to the first.
Nothing I hate more than talking to a f****** computer on the phone!
Worse is when the computer calls.
UN and. Intelligence in the same sentence?
+100
“‘Slow this thing down’: Sanders warns US has no clue about speed and scale of coming AI revolution”
Yuh, right- only Sanders understands the problem. He’s SO much smarter than everyone else. /s
“Sanders was blunt about what he called the “most dangerous moment in the modern history of this country”.”
Say what? I thought the oceans boiling, the land burning up, and an extinction crisis—- AI is worse than that?
One needs a program to keep up with the scene changes, eh?
“I predicted back in 2017 that AI would replace the climate crisis, and this seems to be happening now.”
Maybe not- maybe they’ll keep the climate delusion going- two for the price of one.
Your robot needs tank-style treads and a laser on it’s shoulder. Followed by lots of input…
Well, if that happens and wars only kill robots (and drones), then it might be an improvement for the human race so long as the many societies do not bankrupt themselves with mechanized robot armies.
UN socialist/communist chief Guterres showed his colours on 1st May by denouncing the US action towards regime change in Iran, once great and once known as Persia. Just about every other leader with skin in the game agreed with the action.
The United Nations prime reason to exist is to stop warfare. US President Trump claims in 2026 to have stopped 7 wars, adding that United Nations did not even contact him with offers to help. Mission creep?
Geoff S