Secretary-General's address to the Opening of the General Debate of the 81st Session of the General Assembly

Mr. President of the General Assembly, Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen, The faultlines in our world are widening.  Over the last decade, wars erupted with devastating consequences and dragged on with despicable cruelty. The climate crisis went from distant warning to daily reality. And artificial intelligence moved at a speed that has blindsided even those who created it. Power is being reshaped in three fundamental ways.  New centres of economic, political and technological influence have emerged.  Second, we are witnessing an extraordinary transfer of power away from governments to a handful of private corporations and individuals. Their reach now extends across politics, economies, information flows, technological development, and the civic space on which societies depend. And, third, humans are increasingly handing power to machines –  with Artificial Intelligence agents going rogue, and lethal autonomous weapons going from science fiction to military reality.  Yet our institutions and systems of global governance continue to reflect the power realities and interests of a largely bygone age. That is the defining challenge before us. At the very mo...