00:00Mr. President, excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, imagine if nuclear weapons were developed by private companies, if stockpiles were located on
00:14company grounds, and launch codes locked away in a safe in a CEO's office.
00:22It's a disturbing thought. When a technology has the power to fundamentally change the world, possibly even determine the fate
00:34of humanity, we need to ask, who controls it? Who sets the rules? Who is accountable?
00:42Today, humankind faces another technological revolution that raises exactly this question. Engineers have developed a technology that does not need
00:55to be launched from a rocket or a submarine to change the course of history.
01:01I am, of course, talking about artificial intelligence. A technology with seemingly unlimited power. In the wrong hands, it can
01:12upend our economies and threaten our livelihoods.
01:15It has the potential to erode trust within our societies by spreading information that appears real but is, in fact,
01:25fake. AI can endanger the infrastructure that keeps our societies running.
01:31And ultimately, it can influence decisions that determine global peace and security. At the same time, artificial intelligence holds extraordinary
01:45promise.
01:46It can accelerate scientific discovery, improve health care and education all over the world, provide opportunities for economic development, overcome
01:57inequalities, and help us address challenges that no country can solve alone.
02:03Just imagine a world where, with the help of AI, we can prevent famine and cure cancer.
02:10This is precisely what makes AI so powerful, for better or for worse.
02:18But there is a critical tension. Only two major countries are home to the companies holding the vast majority of
02:27all global AI patents.
02:30That puts an enormous amount of influence in the hands of a very few.
02:35Such power carries responsibility, not only towards customers, shareholders, or governments, but also to humanity.
02:45And wherever power becomes global, responsibility must become global, too.
02:53The United Nations was created precisely for a moment such as this.
02:57When a challenge is too large for any one nation to address alone, when risks need to be managed to
03:06protect people all over the world,
03:08and when opportunities need to be exploited in a way that benefits the largest and the smallest, the richest and
03:15the poorest member state.
03:17But today, the United Nations itself is under pressure.
03:22There are great powers that believe that they fare better if they ignore the rules enshrined in the UN Charter.
03:32The erosion of international law jeopardizes the enormous civilizational progress that the United Nations stand for.
03:42The commitment to peace, the principle of sovereign equality of all states, the belief in norms and rules,
03:49the conviction of the dignity inherent in every human being.
03:53The erosion of these principles may serve the interest of a few who believe themselves powerful enough to survive in
04:03a world without norms or to write their own rules.
04:07For us, for the overwhelming majority of the 193 states represented in this General Assembly, this is harmful.
04:17We know that the people of this world will pay the price if the respect for the international law erodes
04:24and if its institutions are under attack.
04:28If this erosion continues, we all stand to lose.
04:33But this pressure on the international order does not come from political actors alone.
04:38It also comes from the forces of technological revolution.
04:43This poses a crucial question.
04:46How do we enable our international institutions to keep pace with the technologies that are reshaping our world?
04:56Faced with this question, it will not be enough to invoke what we still have or once had in the
05:05United Nations.
05:06Nor will it help if we ignore its weaknesses.
05:10What we need is honesty, realism and cooperation, honesty in our analysis, realism in our ambition and cooperation as our
05:23method.
05:24We must acknowledge that many of the beams of this common house cannot carry the burden we put on them.
05:32We must decide which parts of the house do we preserve and which do we rebuild.
05:40For this endeavor to succeed, we need the new Secretary-General to lead a profound process of reform.
05:47Above all, we must close the gap between what we expect from the United Nations and the capabilities we give
05:55to the organization.
05:57First, we need a function in the UN that plays an active role in resolving conflicts rather than merely managing
06:06them.
06:07In times when the Security Council as the central decision-making body is paralyzed, this is more difficult than ever.
06:15We need to keep its reform high on our agenda.
06:19Germany stands up for peace and security.
06:22Today, more people than ever are affected by violent conflicts.
06:26At the same time, for every member state, resources are limited.
06:31Thus, we have to join forces to bring conflicts to an end.
06:36Today, Germany is the largest supporter of Ukraine in its defense against Russian aggression.
06:43This aggression has been condemned consistently by an overwhelming majority here in the General Assembly.
06:50Russia's war targets the lives of millions of innocent people, the existence of the Ukrainian state and culture, and the
06:59European peace order.
07:00It puts vital grain deliveries for millions of people at risk, particularly in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.
07:10It shows contempt for the charter and for the common order on which we stand.
07:17This is why we will continue to urge Russia to finally come to the negotiation table.
07:22I call on every member state to join us in convincing Russia that the future is built at the negotiation
07:31table, not on dead bodies in cities and villages.
07:37The day when negotiations finally begin will be a good day for the United Nations.
07:42Germany is also taking on responsibility for peace and security beyond Europe.
07:48For example, in Haiti, where we have significantly increased our contribution to the international mission to combat gang crime.
07:57Also, we shall not forget Sudan.
08:01At the Sudan conference in Berlin in April, together with our partners, we mobilized more than $1.7 billion to
08:11alleviate the biggest humanitarian catastrophe of our time.
08:15Second, we stand for international cooperation that is peaceful, fair, and based on equality.
08:22A new nationalism would be a misguided path.
08:28Whatever its prophets may preach, the truth is that it would make our lives narrower, poorer, and less secure.
08:38Instead, global trade relations need to be diversified and deepened in the framework of a fair trading order.
08:47No country should have to accept raw materials being used to force obedience.
08:52or supply chains becoming instruments of pressure.
08:56None of us is powerless in the face of this.
09:01Where we cooperate, we free ourselves from one-sided dependencies and open up new spaces of freedom.
09:12With our partners in the European Union, we have begun this work through new trade accords, cooperation agreements, and partnerships.
09:21These partnerships are built on mutual respect, on common rules, and a shared respect of international law.
09:29They also take into account the fortunate fact that many countries of the global south are developing with extraordinary success.
09:38The same principle for partnership and cooperation also applies for technology.
09:46Access to computing power, data expertise, and infrastructure will increasingly shape who can innovate and who merely has to accept
09:56the rules set by others.
09:58Cooperation must therefore create capabilities, not new dependencies.
10:05Third, we want to answer the great global questions of our time together.
10:10No one here, not even the largest among us, can do this alone.
10:15Together with all those who are willing to do so, we will continue our work to address human-made climate
10:21change and its devastating effects swiftly and effectively.
10:26We are forced to chart new courses, and we must do it with speed.
10:33But nowhere is the need more pressing than in the area of artificial intelligence.
10:41It is our collective responsibility to ensure that this technology serves human dignity.
10:49This is particularly urgent because technologies are already changing the foundations of our societies.
11:00AI is not waiting for our institutions to catch up.
11:05Our institutions have to catch up with AI.
11:10At the beginning of my remarks, I asked three questions.
11:14Who controls new technologies, who sets the rules, and who is accountable?
11:20We cannot answer them by simply trusting that those with the greatest capabilities will always act in the interest of
11:26everyone else.
11:28We need to ensure that technological progress is guided by a framework that we all have a say in shaping.
11:36That means building the capacity to understand and assess increasingly capable AI systems.
11:44It means making sure that all regions can participate in shaping the rules.
11:50And it means moving from voluntary commitments towards increasing transparency as well as developing common standards.
12:00That is why Germany calls on UN member states to work towards common safety requirements for the most capable AI
12:10models.
12:11Providers should be required to test these models before release and report serious safety failures.
12:20These requirements should be supported by effective national and regional oversight.
12:25The AI industry will have to play its role in this and continue to bear a responsibility in shaping the
12:35trajectory of this technology.
12:38At the same time, we need to ensure accountability, in particular when global peace and security are potentially affected.
12:47In the course of this week, we have intensified our conversation about these questions.
12:53How we address AI together is one of the clearest tests whether we have the strength and the will to
13:02build a united nations for today's world.
13:06The next Secretary General can count on Germany along this path.
13:12Our history, our geography and our constitution bind us to the UN Charter and to the Universal Declaration of Human
13:22Rights.
13:22This is at the very core of our statehood.
13:27The technologies may change, but one principle will remain.
13:32Power must be bound by responsibility.
13:36And progress must serve human dignity.
13:41The world has long been in a mode of permanent escalation.
13:45And with it, the UN is navigating stormy waters.
13:51We must decide.
13:52Are we truly willing to let the boat we all share drift toward capsizing?
13:59Or will we pull our strength and steer it back on course?
14:04The tools are in our hands.
14:07Together, we can push for renewal and build a peaceful future for generations to come.
14:14I thank you.
14:16Thank you.
14:18Thank you.
14:29Thank you.
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