UN Security Council to hold AI governance meeting with Sam Altman briefing world leaders

The United Nations Security Council is preparing to hold an open meeting on artificial intelligence and international security during the UN General Assembly’s high-level week, scheduled for September 21-27, 2026. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman will brief members in person on global safety measures, the benefits of AI, and the case for international coordination and shared standards. The US position: lead the conversation, block the alternatives The US voted against establishing a 40-member Independent International Scientific Panel on AI, which was approved by a vote of 117-2 in February 2026. The rationale, broadly stated, is that the US sees centralized AI governance as potentially overreaching and vulnerable to authoritarian influence. Instead, Washington has advocated for innovation-led approaches coordinated among allied nations. This isn’t the first time the Security Council has taken up AI. The UNSC held an open briefing on AI implications back in July 2023. That session was also a US-led initiative, followed by another in December 2024. Guterres pushes for guardrails UN Secretary-General António Guterres has urged a coordinated global approach to AI governance and linked it to the ...