Activities of the Secretary-General in Geneva, 5-7 July 2026

The Secretary-General arrived in Geneva on Sunday, 5 July. The following morning, he took part in the inaugural Global Dialogue on AI (artificial intelligence) Governance.

In his remarks during the Dialogue's opening session, the Secretary-General said that for the first time, every country has a seat at the table to shape the AI transformation. And with the Independent International Scientific Panel on AI, we also have a shared base of evidence.

Used well, and shared widely, AI could compress decades of development into years, the Secretary-General said, adding that the choice before us is not between faith in AI or fear of it. It is between governing by design - and drifting by default.

He shared four priorities for the road ahead.

First, safety. The Secretary-General called for an AI Child Safety Pledge, with three simple rules for any system a child can reach: Prove it is safe, zero tolerance for sexual abuse and never leave a child in crisis alone. When a child is harmed, he said, the answer must never be "the algorithm did it."

Second, the Secretary-General said we need red lines protecting human rights.

Then, he called for capacity, adding that we cannot allow the digital divide to harden into an AI divide. More than 20 Member States have already nominated centres to an UN-supported Global Network for Exchange and Cooperation on AI Capacity Building. The Secretary-General added that he will submit to the General Assembly his recommendations for a Global Fund for AI - to build skills, data and affordable computing power everywhere.

And finally, the Secretary-General reiterated his appeal for transparency, through his AI Environmental Transparency Initiative, which calls on every major AI company to measure and publicly disclose the full footprint of its systems and to commit to power every data centre with renewable energy by 2030.

The Secretary-General also reiterated his call to have lethal autonomous weapon systems, or killer robots, banned by international law, adding that some decisions must remain forever human - none more than taking a human life.

The Secretary-General expressed the hope that this dialogue will become the place where global participation leads to global action.

On the margins of the dialogue, the Secretary-General had several bilateral meetings.

He met with leaders from the two countries co-chairing the Global Dialogue, Félix Ulloa, Vice-President of El Salvador, and Alar Karis, President of Estonia.

He also met with Mikheil Kavelashvili, President of Georgia, Luc Frieden, Prime Minister of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, Mohamed Younis A Menfi, President of the Presidential Council of the State of Libya, Zhaslan Madiyev, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development of Kazakhstan, Omar Alolama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications of the United Arab Emirates, and Shaza Fatima Khawaja, Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication of Pakistan.

Later in the afternoon, at the Palais des Nations, the Secretary-General delivered remarks at a meeting of the International Law Commission. The work of this International Law Commission has rarely been more vital, he said, as the norms that form the bedrock of the international legal order are being challenged, eroded - and at times openly defied.

Finding legal solutions to today's crises is a fundamental duty for us all. And shaping the future of international law - by anticipating tomorrow's challenges - falls with particular weight on this Commission.

Immediately after, the Secretary-General had a bilateral meeting with the Foreign Minister of Angola, Téte António.

The Secretary-General then sat down for an interview with Die Zeit.

Following the interview, he went back to Palexpo where he listened to a panel session of the Global Dialogue on AI Governance.

He ended his day there with an informal meeting with members of the Independent Scientific Panel on AI.

On Tuesday morning, 7 July, the Secretary-General departed Geneva.