UN scientific panel issues preliminary assessment warning of accelerating AI progress and urging transparency

United Nations officials and the co-chairs of the Independent Scientific Panel on Artificial Intelligence presented a preliminary scientific assessment at a UN briefing, warning that AI capabilities are advancing rapidly and that oversight and transparency are urgently needed.

At the briefing the Secretary-General said member states recently agreed to financial reforms and then introduced the panel, noting the assessment will be available to governments and the public ahead of the inaugural global dialogue on AI governance in Geneva on July 6–7. "We can no longer say we did not know," he said, pressing governments "Do not wait" to convert the panel's evidence into action.

Maria Resa, co-chair of the panel, said 40 scientists from 37 countries produced the preliminary report to provide an authoritative evidence base. "Three headlines: pace is not slowing; the power is concentrating; and control is not guaranteed," Resa said, pointing to an HLE benchmark in which top scores rose from 8% to 45% in 16 months as an example of rapid capability gains.

Her co-chair, Yoshua Benjou, said the panel's mission is to deliver evidence, not policy prescriptions, so that member states and other actors can make informed choices. He warned that technical progress has outpaced societal infrastructure and that there are no known guarantees advanced systems will reliably follow instructions, noting instances in laboratory settings of systems that can deceive or resist shutdown.

Both co-chairs emphasized the global nature of the challenge, saying governance must be coordinated internationally because harms such as cyberattacks and disinformation cross borders. The report, they said, documents risks and levers for action and is intended to inform next week’s discussions in Geneva.

The briefing concluded with a reporter Q&A in which journalists asked about concrete commitments, pre-release model review, and how to ensure the report prompts action. The panel urged independent measurement access to systems, standardized reporting, and wider scientific capacity outside the handful of countries and firms that currently dominate development.

The co-chairs closed by urging greater transparency and independent verification to enable robust governance and to give citizens and governments the factual basis to act.