In the breakneck race to develop artificial intelligence, we face a stark choice: Let market forces alone shape humanity’s most transformative technology, or seize this moment to ensure AI serves everyone, not just the privileged few. While it took the internet three years to reach 100 million users, AI did so in months — and the window for global action is rapidly closing.
Responding to this rapid evolution, the United Nations has laid the foundations of a clear and ambitious framework for global AI governance in just one year through the Global Digital Compact adopted in September 2024 — a pace unmatched in the organization’s history.
The U.N. remains the only place that can legitimately be called the “world stage,” where representatives from 193 member states can meet, discuss, and negotiate. As such, it is more than ever the go-to place to address new issues that countries feel are a collective concern — or cannot be left to the private sector alone.
About the author
Nicolas de Rivière@NdeRiviere
Nicolas de Rivière is the ambassador, permanent representative of France to the United Nations in New York. He graduated from the French Ecole Nationale d’Administration, or ENA. He has served in the offices of two Foreign Ministers (2002-2004 and 2004-2005). He was conferred the insignia of Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur in 2015.
