United Nations Secretary-General Calls for Global Inequality Panel
António Guterres has announced his support for the establishment of an International Panel on Inequality to combat artificial intelligence and the wealth gap.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has called on world leaders to establish an International Panel on Inequality, proposed by academics including Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, to address global inequality and the threats posed by artificial intelligence.
Call for an International Panel on Inequality
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has urged leaders to establish the International Panel on Inequality, proposed by the world's leading academics and backed by hundreds of scientists. This major initiative aims to tackle the global wealth gap and the new challenges brought by artificial intelligence.
Event in New York and Data
At a high-level leaders' meeting held in New York, Guterres's message was conveyed to participants by his Deputy, Amina Mohammed. The statement emphasized that Sustainable Development Goal 10 aims to reduce inequality within and among nations, and recalled that the richest 10 percent of the world own 75 percent of all wealth.
Artificial Intelligence and Global Risks
Guterres warned that the rapid emergence of frontier technologies like artificial intelligence could trigger global inequality on an unprecedented scale. It was stated that such technological and economic transformations could erode democracies and increase the risks of global conflict.
Emergence of the Report
The proposal for the International Panel on Inequality was prepared by a committee led by Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz at the request of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa to draft a global inequality report for the G20. The final report, published in 2025, drew attention to an inequality crisis comparable to the climate emergency.
Global Support and the Future
Momentum for the structure, which is proposed to operate similarly to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, has been gained through founding committee meetings in Geneva, Johannesburg, and Barcelona. The initiative has received support from the African Union, numerous national leaders, and over 700 economists and academics worldwide.