The United Nations has warned of “job losses and widening social and economic divides” in its latest contribution to the AI risk debate. The intergovernmental body claimed to be working the ethical global governance of AI in a news article published last week.
“This is not an issue that an individual government, private sector, or civil society can navigate alone, and the UN is calling for far greater international cooperation to manage the risks and opportunities of AI,” said the piece.
In 2025, World Economic Forum data indicated 41% of employers were eying job cuts linked to the introduction of AI, it added. Elsewhere, the International Labour Organization estimates a quarter of all workers could be affected by AI, although this does not necessarily equate to job losses.
To minimise the impact on society, the UN proposes five ideas based on its Global Digital Compact:
- Educating people to remain relevant in an AI-enabled future.
- Embracing AI-enabled work through new skills and training.
- Sharing AI benefits broadly through widespread access.
- Ensuring AI ethics respect human rights and dignity.
- Achieving a global consensus on AI development.
It is unclear how these ideas could be fulfilled under current AI market dynamics. Meanwhile, AI risk continues to escalate on multiple fronts, with the UN itself last month alerting that the technology was putting children in danger.
A “dizzying array of ways that children are targeted” includes grooming, deepfakes, embedding of harmful features, cyberbullying and inappropriate content, said the UN.
Technology‑linked child abuse cases shot up in the US from 4,700 to more than 67,000 between 2023 and 2024, according to Childlight Global Child Safety Institute data cited by the UN.
