UNITED NATIONS : The heads of major artificial intelligence firms pleaded with the United Nations on Wednesday to set controls over the burgeoning technology they are designing in order to save the world - or, at least, its people.

"If managed poorly, I even believe AI could be a risk to humanity as a whole,” said Dario Amodei, the chief executive officer of Anthropic.

"We could lose control of the future to AI,” said his competitor, Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI.

Both said the countries of the world, though the U.N. Security Council, where they testified Wednesday afternoon, have to set safeguards, which would be actual controls to prevent the technology from getting too powerful to rein in. They also called for the world to make sure that the power of AI isn’t concentrated in one company or country.

Dario Amodei co-founder of Anthropic via video link and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman address the United Nations Security Council during a session on Artificial Intelligence during the 81st United Nations General Assembly, at UN Headquarters in New York City, US, September 23, 2026. (Reuters)

For world leaders, one key question about AI is this: Who should control life-and-death decisions - human or machine?

The United Nations Security Council on Wednesday huddled with top technology leaders to figure out if the increasing abilities and pervasiveness of artificial intelligence should be controlled and, if so, by who. Other lingering questions: How could it be done? When might it be just too late?

The day before, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned of "killer robots." Experts and European leaders said that’s not hyperbole but something that’s already a reality or at least perilously close.

AI leaders tell UN Security Council that AI could be a risk to all humanity