The four-day event brings together world leaders, tech innovators, academics, civil society, and youth to explore how AI can help accelerate the Sustainable Development Goals, while addressing growing global concerns over disinformation, inequality, and environmental degradation.

Opening the summit, Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Secretary-General of the International Telecommunications Union, called on society to take collective responsibility for the future of AI.

“We are the AI generation,” she said. “But being part of this generation means more than just using these technologies. It means contributing to a whole-of-society upskilling effort, from early schooling to lifelong learning.”

Bogdan-Martin warned that the most immediate danger is not the extinction of humanity by AI, but rather the unchecked proliferation of AI systems without adequate public understanding or regulation.

“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,” she cautioned.

--UN/ChannelAfrica--