Overview
- The General Assembly approved the Secretary-General’s slate by a recorded vote of 117–2, with the United States and Paraguay opposed and Tunisia and Ukraine abstaining.
- The panel was established by a 2025 resolution as the first global scientific body dedicated to evidence-based assessments of AI’s opportunities, risks and impacts.
- Members were chosen from more than 2,600 candidates after independent reviews by the ITU, the UN Office for Digital and Emerging Technologies, and UNESCO.
- The roster is multidisciplinary and geographically diverse, including Nobel laureate Maria Ressa, Americans Vipin Kumar and Martha Palmer, and Chinese experts Song Haitao and Wang Jian.
- The United States called the body a mandate overreach and questioned the selection process, Ukraine cited conflict-of-interest concerns about a Russian nominee, and Spain offered to host the panel’s first in-person meeting.