MINSK, 26 September (BelTA) – The collective West is creating a new “silicon iron curtain” in artificial intelligence, Belarusian Minister of Foreign Affairs Maxim Ryzhenkov said at the UN Security Council meeting in New York on 25 September, BelTA has learned.
The UN open debates, held on South Korea's initiative, addressed the issues of AI, international peace and security.
“Probably, not a day goes by without headlines about another breakthrough in the use of AI. Yes, that is true. Progress in this area opens up previously unthinkable prospects for development in almost all areas of human activity: in the fight against climate change, hunger, incurable diseases, and so on. However, not everything is so rosy and promising, since AI is like a double-edged sword,” Maxim Ryzhenkov noted.
In this regard, the minister highlighted some of the key challenges. First of all, he touched upon the attempts of the so-called collective West to monopolize AI development by excluding other countries, believing that this technology will allow it to ensure its military and economic superiority.
“In essence, a new iron curtain is being created in this area, not ideological, but technological – a ‘silicon’ one, which is supposed to divide the West and the other world, the Global Majority, and return the countries of the Global Majority to a new neocolonialism. We are convinced that this is a road to nowhere, if not an abyss for all mankind,” the Belarusian diplomat stated.
Maxim Ryzhenkov emphasized that AI should be the property of all countries without exception. Only in this way will this technology serve the cause of peace and development.
The foreign minister also spoke on the issue of AI military application. “The ongoing armed conflicts contribute to the rapid development of military technologies. Modern conflicts are wars of unmanned aerial vehicles, precision-guided munition, and lethal autonomous weapon systems that may possess the self-learning function inherent in AI. There is a real risk that AI algorithms in weapon systems will at some point start making decisions on their own,” the minister noted.
He reminded that numerous techno-thrillers explore this theme, citing examples from WarGames where a game nearly causes nuclear war to the Terminator with the Skynet system aiming to destroy humanity.
“Recently, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko noted that, having the ability to self-learn, this tool (artificial intelligence) could destroy humanity if it gets out of control. Many have spoken about this these days,” the diplomat said. “All this leads us to a key conclusion: AI must be under human control.”
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