The General Assembly appointed 40 members recommended by the Secretary-General to the Independent International Scientific Panel on Artificial Intelligence (AI) on February 12th.
One of the appointed members is Anna Korhonen of Finland. She is Professor and Director of the Centre for Human-Inspired Artificial Intelligence at the University of Cambridge.
Established by General Assembly resolution in 2025, the Panel is the first global scientific body of its kind, and aims to bring experts together to assess how the technology is transforming the world and its people. It will issue an annual report containing evidence-based scientific assessments that synthesize and analyse existing research related to the technology’s opportunities, risks and impacts.
– Today marks a foundational step towards global scientific understanding of AI. The 40 members of the new Independent International Scientific Panel on Artificial Intelligence, established within the United Nations, have been appointed by the General Assembly of the United Nations for a three-year term. They will serve in their personal capacity, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Thursday.
Selected from 2600 candidates
The members were selected from more than 2,600 candidates, after independent review by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the UN Office for Digital and Emerging Technologies, and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
The 40 members of the Independent International Scientific Panel on AI include people from all five of the UN’s regions. They are from various different backgrounds, including academia, private sector, civil society, government/international organization, and technical community. The Panel members have backgrounds in core technical AI expertise; applied AI, safety and infrastructure experience; and AI policy, ethics and impact.
Anna Korhonen of Finland is one of the appointed members. She is Professor and Director
of the Centre for Human-Inspired Artificial Intelligence at the University of Cambridge, leading research in language AI, human-centric AI, and AI for sustainable development.
– We now have a multidisciplinary group of leading AI experts from across the globe, geographically diverse and gender-balanced, who will provide independent and impartial assessments of AI’s opportunities, risks and impacts — including to the new Global Dialogue on AI Governance, Guterres says. In a world where AI is racing ahead, this Panel will provide what’s been missing — rigorous, independent scientific insight that enables all Member States, regardless of their technological capacity, to engage on an equal footing.