AI at UNGA 2026: What Sam Altman, Dario Amodei and other tech leaders said on AI risks

The heads of major artificial intelligence companies warned the United Nations on Wednesday (September 23) about the risks posed by increasingly powerful AI systems, calling for international cooperation and safeguards as the technology becomes more autonomous.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei addressed the UN Security Council during a meeting convened by France on the sidelines of the annual United Nations General Assembly. Their warnings came amid growing concerns that AI systems could become difficult to control, move faster than governments can regulate them and concentrate enormous power in the hands of a few companies or countries.

Here are the key takeaways from what tech leaders told the UN:

1. Dario Amodei: AI could pose a risk to humanity

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei warned that poorly managed AI could create risks extending beyond individual companies or countries.

“If managed poorly, I even believe AI could be a risk to humanity as a whole,” Amodei told the council.

He said increasingly capable AI models would require stronger safety standards and that Anthropic would work to prevent misuse.

2. Anthropic says it will ‘slow down’ if necessary

Amodei said AI companies should not prioritize rapid development at the expense of safety.

“We will slow down as much as necessary in order to make sure that every successive AI technology that we release is actually safe,” he said.

He also called for countries to work together, arguing that no single company or government could manage the risks alone.

“For all the differences of the people in this room, we must put aside those differences in order to confront this global opportunity and global threat that is being presented to us at the same time,” Amodei said.

“No leader, no company and no nation can manage this alone.”

3. Sam Altman: ‘We could lose control of the future to AI’

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman also warned that the rapid development of AI could create serious challenges for governments and institutions.