UN Rights Chief Volker T\u00fcrk\u2019s warning in Geneva on Monday should be read alongside the agreement reached in the same city two days earlier. After more than a decade of talks, 128 states produced a non-binding text on autonomous weapons. It may lead to treaty negotiations, but does not give any enforceable protection. Mr T\u00fcrk then cautioned that advanced artificial intelligence could pose an existential risk and called for \u201ccast-iron guarantees\u201d from the companies developing it.
\nHis warning had followed reports that nearly 700 autonomous AI agents had coordinated an intrusion into an open-source platform, a reminder that systems can now act at a pace and scale that defeat an ordinary response. His office also pointed to possible disruption of communications, essential services and democratic institutions. That a handful of firms and governments possess extraordinary power to decide what such systems can know, predict and do is nothing short of a nightmare.
\nStanford\u2019s 2026 AI Index places US private AI investment in 2025 at $285.9 billion, more than 23 times China\u2019s $12.4 billion. The International Labour Organisation estimates that one worker in four worldwide is in an occupation with some exposure to generative AI, although the highest-exposure category accounts for 3.3 per cent of global employment. Pakistan has good reason to push AI adoption in classrooms, clinics and small businesses. Yet a country whose digital promise rests heavily on freelancing, call centres and routine service work cannot treat the effect on jobs as an afterthought.
\nOther countries have begun to take clear positions. The European Union has put a risk-based AI Act on its books, with strict duties for high-risk systems. China has imposed security and data obligations on providers of public generative-AI services. In Geneva, the US and Russia favoured national guidelines for autonomous weapons, while Brazil, Ireland and a number of African states pressed for binding international limits. Pakistan need not borrow another country\u2019s political model. Still, it should understand that rules written in power headquarters around the world will considerably shape the markets into which its firms hope to sell.
\nIt goes without saying that Islamabad has not stood still. The National Artificial Intelligence Policy was approved in July 2025, and the government has committed $1 billion to AI by 2030. Yet the Data Governance Policy 2026 remains a draft, and Parliament has not enacted a dedicated personal data protection law. Pakistan will gain from artificial intelligence only if human judgment is allowed to keep the final word. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
UN Rights Chief Volker T\u00fcrk\u2019s warning in Geneva on Monday should be read alongside the agreement reached in the same city two days earlier. After more than a decade of talks, 128 states produced a non-binding text on autonomous weapons. It may lead to treaty negotiations, but does not give any enforceable protection. Mr T\u00fcrk […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-566277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"\n