U.N. Officials Urge Multilateral AI Rules to Avert Economic Divide

Global leaders and U.N. officials urged the international community to adopt multilateral governance mechanisms for artificial intelligence, stressing that cross-border cooperation is critical to managing the technology’s risks and ensuring its benefits reach developing nations.

The appeal came Friday at the forum on the global dialogue and coordinated development of AI rules during the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai. Policymakers warned that the rapid expansion of AI threatens to exacerbate global economic inequalities if left unchecked.