Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries, Lakshmi Mittal, executive chairman of ArcelorMittal, and Sunil Mittal, founder and chairman of Bharti Enterprises, are among four Indian business leaders named founding members of the newly launched AI for Good Global Commission. The commission was announced on Thursday by Rwanda President Paul Kagame, Salesforce Chair and CEO Marc Benioff, and International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Secretary-General Doreen Bogdan-Martin. The Indian representatives also include Vishal Talwar, president of FedEx Dataworks and executive vice-president, chief digital and information officer at FedEx Corporation. The commission brings together more than 40 founding members, including heads of state and government, industry chief executive officers (CEOs) and top executives, and heads of UN agencies to help define practical pathways to strengthen trust, expand access and unlock AI's potential to solve real-world challenges at the speed the technology demands.
A United Nations independent panel has issued stark warnings about the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence, stating that AI capabilities are outpacing both scientific understanding and governments' ability to adapt. According to the preliminary report by the UN's Independent International Scientific Panel on Artificial Intelligence, there is no guarantee that increasingly capable AI systems will not cause catastrophic harm, either on their own or due to malicious users. The panel, comprising 40 cross-regional experts, emphasized that policymakers face a growing dilemma: they need robust evidence to regulate AI effectively, yet such evidence is struggling to keep pace with the technology's rapid evolution. As Yoshua Bengio, co-chair of the panel, stated: 'AI capabilities are outpacing both scientific understanding and governments' ability to adapt.' The report, to be presented to governments at an inaugural UN Global Dialogue on AI governance in Geneva July 6-7, offers the first global, independent scientific assessment of AI, with a fuller, comprehensive report planned next year.
The report reveals that AI task complexity is doubling every four to seven months, potentially allowing systems to complete work that takes humans days or weeks. As reported by the UN panel, AI already demonstrates expert-level reasoning in mathematics and science and is accelerating drug and vaccine development. However, while this could deliver significant economic benefits, AI adoption has accelerated broadly but unevenly across countries and sectors. According to the latest data, over a billion people now use conversational AI weekly, but adoption in developing countries lags significantly. The panel expects a shift towards agentic AI systems capable of carrying out real-world tasks, although growth may be constrained by energy and high-quality data shortages. According to the UN report, AI has become one of the fastest-adopted technologies in history, with recent advances significantly exceeding expectations for technology development.
The report outlines significant safety concerns, including the risk of losing control over AI systems as they become increasingly autonomous and deceptive. According to the UN panel, AI is already being used to generate misinformation and other harmful content and could be exploited for fraud, cyberattacks and biological threats. The panel noted growing evidence of deceptive AI behaviour, making it impossible for science to guarantee that as capabilities continue to increase, AI will not cause catastrophic harm. AI-generated child sexual abuse material and deepfake-enabled sexual violence are circulating more frequently, while AI makes it easier to produce and target persuasive content at scale, contributing to a 'gradual erosion of information integrity that can weaken public trust, social cohesion and democratic deliberation'. Most countries, including advanced economies, lack the technical expertise to assess the most capable new AI models or participate meaningfully in their governance. The report also notes that current safety evaluation methods are largely designed by the same companies developing frontier AI systems, leaving governments dependent on information that developers choose to disclose.
The AI for Good Global Commission aims to strengthen trust in the technology and accelerate its use in addressing global challenges. According to the announcement, the commission seeks to bring together leaders involved in building AI technologies, deploying them at scale, shaping policy, and representing communities to develop responsible AI solutions. A key focus will be addressing digital divides, citing that 2.2 billion people remain offline globally and are unable to access AI-driven advancements. The commission builds on the work of the ITU-UNESCO Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development, with its inaugural meeting scheduled to take place during the AI for Good Global Summit 2026 in Geneva from July 7 to July 10. Rwanda's President Paul Kagame, who will serve as co-chair, said: 'One thing is certain: technology is supposed to be a force for good, and we have a responsibility to use it accordingly. Let us work together to reduce inequality, and allow more and more of our citizens to benefit from the good AI can deliver to all of us.' The commission will convene its inaugural meeting at the AI for Good Global Summit 2026, bringing together technology developers, policymakers, industry leaders and community representatives to promote responsible AI deployment across sectors and borders, while ensuring developing countries have a voice in shaping its future.
