Trump Is Stripping The Global Order. Does The UN AI Resolution Hold?

But a year since the adoption of the United States-led draft resolution, does it practically count for much, now that Donald Trump, given his deep commitment to the ‘MAGA’ (Make America Great Again) cause, is back as US President?

The answer to that question is yes. Irrespective of the US under the new Trump administration that views any form of regulation or guardrails as coming in the way of ensuring that the US retains its No.1 position in the AI sphere.

The Artificial Intelligence Action Summit held in Paris on February 10-11 has also brought to the open how challenges in evolving a collaborative framework on AI may only increase in future, given the growing competition between the US and China for dominance in this arena. 

Artificial intelligence (AI), which can be a boon or bane depending on how it is used — is far too sensitive an issue for brinkmanship to take precedence over societal considerations.

The UN, despite all its shortcomings and need for reform, continues to remain the acceptable global forum for evolving a working arrangement on contentious issues so that people can benefit.

A resolution on AI adopted by the UN General Assembly — and that too without a vote — is an endorsement by multiple countries, and not by some select groups of nations, on an approach to be followed globally when it comes to dealing with a highly sophisticated technology, whose advancements often take place at breakneck speed.

The relevance of a UN resolution on AI, therefore, can never be undermined even if question marks arise about whether it could be given effect to as was originally intended due to the United States, especially, choosing to carve out a new path on AI under Trump.

Challenges Posed By Trump

Already in his second stint in the White House, Trump has issued a series of Executive Orders related to AI, including rescinding the October 2023 Executive Order on ‘Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence’ issued by his predecessor Joe Biden.

To ensure the US stays ahead in the AI race, Trump — who has termed China’s DeepSeek as a ‘wake-up call’ for American tech firms — has also announced the launch of a US$ 500 billion Stargate Project to secure American leadership in the AI domain. 

The US, moreover, did not sign the Statement on inclusive and sustainable artificial intelligence for people and the planet, agreed on at the Paris AI summit, despite the text, as was to be expected, not being remotely controversial.

Curiously enough, even the United Kingdom — which had hosted the AI Safety Summit in Bletchley Park in November 2023 and co-organised the AI Seoul Summit in May 2024 — also did not sign the statement, reflecting how tough it is currently to get countries to align on key issues related to AI. 

The ‘Statement on inclusive and sustainable artificial intelligence for people and the planet’ — signed by 58 countries, including China and India — affirmed the following main priorities:

1. Promoting AI accessibility to reduce digital divides
2. Ensuring AI is open, inclusive, transparent, ethical, safe, secure and trustworthy, taking into account international frameworks for all
3. Making innovation in AI thrive by enabling conditions for its development and avoiding market concentration driving industrial recovery and development
4. Encouraging AI deployment that positively shapes the future of work and labour markets and delivers opportunity for sustainable growth
5. Making AI sustainable for people and the planet
6. Reinforcing international cooperation to promote coordination in international governance

The Way Forward

But, even as the relevance of the UN resolution on AI may not be in doubt, the expectation, though, would be that, going forward, the global body steps up its act to remind countries that “Responsible AI” needs to move from being a nice sounding catchy slogan touted by almost everyone connected with the AI sphere to one which is the practice all the time everywhere. 

It would also be great if the UN could debunk the notion which has been allowed to gain ground that bringing in any form of regulation, even of the light touch kind, would stifle innovation and come in the way of companies being able to benefit society as much as they would like to.

A ‘pro-innovation regulatory/governance approach’ may be what is necessary to ensure that developments in AI technologies are not slowed due to overregulation, but that does not mean giving the total go-by to guardrails or not putting those in place to the desired extent due to misplaced fears about tech majors finding any form of check being imposed on them as an inconvenience.

The UN adopting such a stance can lead to many countries not choosing to follow the present US way on dealing with AI.

Ultimately, the UN has a responsibility for balancing the interests of all its member states — big or small, economically strong or weak, politically powerful or not so.

On the critical issue of AI, the UN can only be seen to be discharging this responsibility effectively if it does not allow the technology to further accentuate the digital divide between countries. The UN should make it crystal clear through its interventions that it has the back of developing nations.

As per PwC’s Global Artificial Intelligence Study, AI can contribute an additional US$ 15.7 trillion to the global economy by 2030.

The same study mentioned that the “greatest gains from AI will be in China (26 per cent boost to GDP in 2030) and North America (14.5 per cent boost), equivalent to a total of US$ 10.7 trillion, and accounting for almost 70 per cent of the global economic impact”.

(The writer is a current affairs commentator. Views are personal)