UN Chief Warns AI and Digital Platforms Are Expanding Terrorist Capabilities
United Nations — United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned Monday that artificial intelligence, digital platforms and other emerging technologies are strengthening terrorist groups’ ability to recruit supporters, raise money and plan attacks.
Speaking at the Fourth United Nations High-level Conference on Counter-Terrorism, Guterres called for greater international cooperation to close gaps in the global response.
He said affiliates of Al-Qaida, Da’esh, also known as the Islamic State, and other terrorist organizations continue to threaten countries and communities in South Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
“Violent extremist narratives, including those based on xenophobia, racism, and other forms of intolerance, or in the name of religion or belief, pose deadly domestic threats in many nations,” he said.
Guterres said terrorist groups have become increasingly skilled at exploiting artificial intelligence, online platforms and unmanned weapons.
“These tools have supercharged their ability to recruit, finance, and plan attacks,” he said.
The same technologies, however, can help authorities identify threats earlier, disrupt illicit financing and better understand the pathways that lead to terrorist radicalization, he added.
Guterres noted that countries committed to using digital technologies for the public good when they adopted the Pact for the Future and the Global Digital Compact in 2024. Those agreements were intended to strengthen the United Nations’ ability to respond to emerging global challenges.
The secretary-general also warned that conflict, displacement, economic hardship and declining public trust can create conditions that terrorist organizations exploit.
“We meet at a moment of acute instability,” he said. “Conflicts are triggering energy shocks, inflation and hunger across the globe. Temperatures are rising. Millions are displaced. And millions more face growing economic hardship.”
“These conditions — of want, of fragility, of mistrust — are ideal circumstances for terror to thrive,” he said.
Guterres stressed that grievances and hardship can never justify acts of terrorism.
“We must address the conditions and grievances that allow terrorism to take root,” he said.
Alexandre Zouev, acting under-secretary-general for counter-terrorism, said terrorist organizations exploit political instability, governance failures, socioeconomic inequality and emerging technologies to broaden their reach, recruit members and mobilize resources.
“The primary responsibility for preventing and combating terrorism falls on member states,” he said.
Zouev said governments should also draw on the expertise of regional organizations, civil society groups, terrorism survivors, women, young people, academics and the broader United Nations system.
The conference is being held as part of the United Nations’ Counter-Terrorism Week under the theme, “A Future Free from Terrorism: Consolidating the Global Commitment to Multi-Stakeholder Approaches to Counter Terrorism, notably through Member States’ Leadership and Action.” (Source: IANS)
