Pakistan, Sept. 8 -- UN Rights Chief Volker Turk's warning in Geneva on Monday should be read alongside the agreement reached in the same city two days earlier. After more than a decade of talks, 128 states produced a non-binding text on autonomous weapons. It may lead to treaty negotiations, but does not give any enforceable protection. Mr Turk then cautioned that advanced artificial intelligence could pose an existential risk and called for "cast-iron guarantees" from the companies developing it.

His warning had followed reports that nearly 700 autonomous AI agents had coordinated an intrusion into an open-source platform, a reminder that systems can now act at a pace and scale that defeat an ordinary response. His office also pointed ...