UN chief calls for AI curbs and end to wars in his last assembly address

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres delivered his final address to the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday, calling for stricter international controls on artificial intelligence and an end to ongoing wars. The speech capped a decade-long tenure in which Guterres repeatedly sought to position the United Nations as a mediator in conflicts and a forum for governing emerging technologies, even as major powers increasingly bypassed the organization, according to multiple reports.

The 81st General Assembly convenes under the theme "Restoring Trust, Managing Transformation: A United Nations That Delivers for All." This theme reflects the central issues dominating this year's debate: the wars in Iran, Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, Congo and Myanmar, growing concern over the advance of artificial intelligence without global controls, and the emerging race to succeed Guterres as his tenure draws to a close.

In his address, Guterres called on world leaders to advance the conditions for what he described as the "responsible pacing" of artificial intelligence. He warned that the technology continues to develop without adequate international rules and urged the global community to take collective responsibility for its governance. At the same time, he made an urgent appeal for states to end their wars and resolve international disputes through peaceful means.

Climate change formed another major pillar of his speech. Guterres urged world leaders to focus more intensively on the issue, a call made against the backdrop of a year marked, according to reports, by extreme heat across large parts of the world including Europe and the United States, wildfires in Africa, flash flooding in Asia, and a record-breaking El Niño event. Running alongside the General Assembly, New York's Climate Week saw the prime ministers of Australia and Iceland discuss the effects of the climate crisis on their countries, even as other leaders reportedly shied away from the topic in the face of war and inflation.

Guterres reserved some of his most pointed language for the situation in the Middle East. He condemned the destruction in Gaza and Israeli settlement expansion in the West Bank. According to several news agencies, he warned that violence, displacement and settlement expansion by Israel in the occupied West Bank are "bulldozing the path to peace" and raising the "specter of ethnic cleansing." He appealed to world leaders to use the General Assembly's high-level week to pursue de-escalation and dialogue across the Middle East.

According to France 24's UN correspondent, Guterres' speech was largely intended as a message to the world's superpowers. He pleaded for "a world built on interdependence," a call widely interpreted as an implicit push for multilateral cooperation over unilateral power politics. Observers have described this message as something of a legacy statement from a tenure defined by repeated efforts to keep the United Nations relevant amid mounting global crises.

Guterres also used the address to highlight what he characterized as structural weaknesses within UN institutions. He warned that these bodies are struggling to confront mounting global challenges and called for an overhaul of existing structures, though the available reports do not detail specific reform proposals.

The speech comes at a moment when questions about who will succeed Guterres are gaining prominence. Reports mention an emerging contest over his succession, though no specific names or timeline for selecting a new secretary-general are given in the available coverage. How the issues raised by Guterres — AI regulation, ending wars, climate action and institutional reform — will be carried forward within the United Nations after his departure remains an open question.