EU Statement – UN Global Dialogue on Artificial Intelligence Governance

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Madam President,

Mister Secretary-General,

Distinguished Co-Chairs,

Excellencies,

I have the honour to deliver this statement on behalf of the European Union and its Member States.

This Global Dialogue on AI Governance is a unique moment - this is the first time that all members of the United Nations gather to discuss AI governance in a dedicated meeting. Equally important is the presence and active involvement of all relevant stakeholders. This broad-based participation is an essential precondition for the relevance of this Dialogue's outcomes.

A successful first Global Dialogue can lay the foundation for greater international cooperation on AI, which is truly needed in a fast-evolving AI landscape. It will have to base AI discussions on a credible, independent scientific baseline and thus create the conditions for effective multistakeholder collaboration to avoid a race to the bottom, whereby technological advances are pursued at any cost.

Today frontier AI is reaching capabilities that were unimaginable only a few months or even weeks ago. This is opening extraordinary opportunities for innovation and for improving our quality of life. In biotechnology, for example, AI is accelerating the design of new proteins, repurposing drugs, enabling experimenting with digital twins of the human body before moving to clinical applications. The possibilities are expanding at an unprecedented pace.

In Europe, we welcome these advances and are investing to make them possible. We will upgrade our unique public network of supercomputers into AI Factories and AI Gigafactories. At the same time, we are expanding Europe's computing capacity through the recent Cloud and AI Development Act, paving the way for a sovereign AI ecosystem with a strong emphasis on energy-efficient data centres and sustainable infrastructure.

Because we believe AI will be a defining driver of Europe's future prosperity and competitiveness, we promote an AI-first approach. Our ambition is to see AI adopted and integrated in production processes, unlocking transformative potential in key sectors. From industrial AI to physical AI and advanced robotics, these technologies are not only making existing processes more efficient; they are expanding what organisations are capable of achieving, creating entirely new opportunities for growth and competitiveness, and contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals, in line with the Global Digital Compact.

However, the fast evolution of AI also carries considerable societal risks.

While AI can equip children with valuable skills and open new horizons for learning, it can also be used to manipulate, exploit, and harm them. AI presents unprecedented risks and harms to children's safety, physical, mental and cognitive development, and rights. The international community must therefore act decisively to ensure that AI is designed, deployed, and governed in a manner that safeguards children's rights, safety, well-being, and development in the digital age.

Similarly, while AI can support the efficient operation of power grids, it can also be weaponised to probe them for weaknesses. The very technology that models climate solutions also consumes increasing quantities of energy and water. The exponential growth of the AI economy is itself posing financial risks and exacerbating geopolitical pressures. And although generative AI is based on the work of cultural creators and journalistic media content, it now threatens to replace them - and, so far, without providing adequate remuneration.

The tension between transformative opportunities and new pressures and risks defines the central challenge before us. Meeting this challenge will require determined action, strengthened international cooperation, and a shared commitment to ensuring that AI serves the public interest.

It brings me to what we are discussing today: How to best govern AI?

The EU has adopted the approach of responsible and trustworthy AI innovation. We support the development and deployment of AI that is safe, secure, and sustainable, so that everyone can trust it. We want to unlock the potential of AI to reap its benefits, while implementing safeguards and mitigating the associated risks. Our approach is therefore both human-centric and grounded in international human rights law, placing individuals, their dignity, rights, freedoms and well-being at the centre of AI development and deployment. After all, there will be no innovation in AI without adoption, and no adoption without trust in the technology.

With this objective, the EU has adopted uniform risk-based AI rules across its single market. Our legislation only intervenes where the risk is too high or unacceptable, protecting health, safety, and fundamental rights freedoms of those living in the EU. Trust is necessary to support adoption and is in high demand by the industry itself.

Based on this experience, we want to contribute to the conversation globally. We engage bilaterally, but also in multilateral fora like today and this entire week.

Governance should be informed by facts and evidence. This is why the EU places particular importance on the work of the Independent International Scientific Panel on AI, whose preliminary findings have already made an important contribution to this Dialogue.

The Panel's work matters because the political debate on AI is currently outpacing the empirical one. Governments are making - or not making - consequential policy decisions based on projections, on advocacy, on competitive pressure. Only rigorous, peer-reviewed, independent, internationally validated evidence provides a solid basis for policy decisions. The Panel will provide a factual baseline, the state of the art as it advances, on which policymakers can base their decisions. The importance of the Panel's work is also the reason why the EU considers it critical that it can work fully independently, free of any external pressure or influence.

Moreover, effective and inclusive multistakeholder participation is essential to ensuring sufficient opportunities for meaningful exchanges but also for translating discussions into improved cooperation - not only at this Dialogue but as a key principle of the international AI governance ecosystem.

The Dialogue is our chance to clarify the opportunities provided by AI and the shared concerns about AI development and applications, and to set in motion or scale up ideas for concrete solutions that contribute to making safe, trustworthy, inclusive, sustainable, and widely accessible AI a reality. It is also an opportunity to discuss regional needs and specificities and share workable solutions. Recent developments related to frontier AI have highlighted the importance of timely information-sharing and cross-border preparedness.

Success will be measured by the clarity brought to the opportunities and challenges ahead, and the demonstration of willingness by participants to continue working together in structured and transparent ways.

Excellencies, the EU comes to this dialogue seeking something durable: a shared commitment to the principle that technology and its benefits must serve all of humanity and the planet, leaving no one behind. The EU has substantial practice in developing governance in this field and is ready to share its experience - and to learn from all of you, through the Global Dialogue and beyond.

And we come with the intellectual honesty to say: we do not know everything. This is precisely why evidence, multistakeholder dialogue, and multilateralism are needed at this moment.

Thank you.