Artificial Intelligence: Opportunities and risks for International Peace & Security

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Ambassador Harold Agyeman
Ghana’s Representative to the United Nations
Security Council Chamber
United Nations, New York
18th July 2023

Mr. President,
I thank the United Kingdom for convening this high-level debate on artificial intelligence and Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for his important statement. We are grateful for the expert views provided by Mr. Jack Clark, (Co-founder of Anthropic) and Professor Zeng Yi (of the Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Science) to this meeting. The emerging dominance of artificial intelligence, as a pervasive fabric of our societies, is one that could positively impact on several vistas, including beneficial applications for medicine, agriculture, environmental management, research and development, the realm of arts and culture, and for trade. As we see in the horizon opportunities to enhance outcomes in different areas of life by embracing the further application of artificial intelligence, we can also already see dangers that must motivate all of us to work quickly, and collaboratively, to avert risks that could be detrimental to our common humanity.

Artificial intelligence, especially in peace and security must be guided by a common determination not to replicate the risks that powerful technologies have created for the world by their ability to unleash disaster of global proportions. We must constrain the excesses of individual national ambitions for combative dominance and commit to work towards the development of principles and frameworks that would govern AI technologies for peaceful purposes.

For Ghana, we see opportunities in the development and application of AI technologies for identifying early warning signs of conflicts and defining responses that have a higher rate of success and that may also be more cost-effective. Such technologies can facilitate the coordination of humanitarian assistance and improve risk assessment. Their application for law enforcement is already well appreciated and where law enforcement has been effective, risks of conflict are usually low.

Moreover, the application of AI technologies for peace mediation and negotiation efforts has revealed early remarkable outcomes that must be further pursued for the cause of peace. The deployment of AI technologies, for instance, in determining the Libyan population’s reaction to policies has facilitated the peace as reflected in the improvements in that country’s 2022 Global Peace Index. We also see in similar context, and within the ISR function of peacekeeping missions, an opportunity to enhance the safety and security of peacekeepers and the protection of civilian populations through the responsible deployment of AI technologies.

Mr. President,
Despite these encouraging developments, we see risks with AI technologies from the perspective of both State actors and non-State actors. The integration of AI technologies into autonomous weapons systems is a foremost source of concern. While States seeking to develop such weapons systems may be genuinely interested in reducing the human cost of their involvement in conflicts, it belies their commitment to a pacific world. The history of our experience with mankind’s mastery in atomic manipulation shows that should such desires persist, it only generates, in equal measure, efforts by other States to cancel the advantage that such a deterrence seeks to create. The additional danger of non-human control over such weapons systems is also a risk that the world cannot afford or ignore.

The increasingly digitalised world and the creation of virtual reality means that the capacity to tell the difference between what is real and what is made up is diminishing by the day. This can create unchecked platforms that non-State actors, especially, could instrumentalise to destabilise societies or cause friction between or among States using AI technologies. While AI technologies can be used to counter misinformation, disinformation and hate speech, they also have the capacity to be used by negative forces in pursuing the campaigns of their nefarious and malicious agenda.

Mr. President,
The potential of AI technologies for good, should, however, lead us to work towards its peaceful uses. As indicated earlier, there is the need for the development of some principles and frameworks, mindful of the fact that we do not yet have a full sense of the evolution of AI technologies. Such a process should however not be the preserve of the Security Council but of the wider membership of the United Nations that have an equal stake in how we guide the further evolution of AI technologies. Without global consensus it would be difficult to limit the flourishes of AI technologies. Since presently a significant part of developments on AI technologies occurs within the private sector and academia, it is important to broaden the dialogue beyond governments to ensure that in filling industry gaps, there can be no diversion and misuse of AI technologies, including of unarmed aerial vehicles. Their negative consequences for peace and security, including on the African continent, where terrorist groups may be experimenting with such technologies, should be anticipated, and abated.

In recognition that AI technologies can create disruptions in military balance, it is important that States should deliberately pursue confidence building measures that rest on a shared interest in preventing conflicts that are not deliberately intended. This can be done through setting standards for voluntary information-sharing and notifications concerning AI-enabled systems, strategies, policies, and programmes implemented by States. We hope that in considering the Secretary-General’s upcoming policy brief on the New Agenda for Peace, Member States would be able to advance durable solutions to address new threats to international peace and security. We indicate our support for the Secretary-General’s efforts
in this regard.

In the process, we must also deepen work on existing initiatives and ongoing processes such as the Secretary-General’s Roadmap on Digital Cooperation, the on-going negotiations on a global convention on Countering the use of ICT for Criminal Purposes, and the Open-ended Working Group on security of and in the use of information and communications technologies. Equally, we encourage the Security Council’s further engagement with the Strategy for the Digital Transformation of UN Peacekeeping under the A4P plus initiative. During the upcoming Peacekeeping Ministerial Meeting (PKM) in Accra, Ghana would welcome discussions on how AI can be deployed to enhance peacekeeping operations under relevant themes.

In Africa, our continental Digital Transformation Strategy (2020-2030) would also continue to be an important ancillary to the African Continental Free Trade Area, which is an anchor for addressing many of the underlying security challenges of the continent and silencing the guns in Africa.

Finally, Mr. President, I affirm Ghana’s commitment in advancing constructive discussions on AI technologies for the peace and security of our world. We highlight the need for a whole-of society approach that leverages the potentials of the private sector, especially the tech which retains the human rights of giants, and citizens at the core of all ethical principles

I thank you