Key Takeaways
- Leaders at UNGA AI urge education, skills, and jobs to harness the global youth population.
- Governments warn AI could increase inequality and uncertainty around future employment.
- Developing nations seek greater access to AI infrastructure, skills and technology.
Leaders at the 81st U.N. General Assembly urged governments to expand education and jobs for young people while warning that rapid AI adoption could widen global inequality.
Youth Investment Drives Economic Growth
Zambia’s Foreign Minister Mulambo Hamakuni Haimbe said at UNGA AI discussions that Africa’s growing youth population could contribute to global prosperity if governments provide education, skills, technology, entrepreneurship opportunities and decent work. He said demographic forecasts show one in every four young people worldwide will be African by 2050.
“Africa’s youthful population is one of our greatest assets and represents an enormous opportunity for global prosperity,” Haimbe told the General Assembly.
His remarks came as other governments linked employment with economic resilience and development. Mexico’s Foreign Affairs Minister Roberto Velasco Álvarez said Mexico combines education and youth employment programs with stronger institutions, intelligence and research. He also said the country’s minimum wage has increased in real terms by 154% since 2018.
The U.N. has continued to connect education and employment as key priorities for young people. Its 2026 development reporting says global youth unemployment reached 12.9% in 2024, about three times the rate for adults.
AI Raises Concerns About Inequality
The debate increasingly turned to artificial intelligence, with governments highlighting both its potential economic benefits and risks. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has promoted international cooperation on AI, including plans linked to a global AI hub and broader access to AI infrastructure and expertise.
Singapore’s Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said UNGA AI development needs common safeguards, including testing, limits on autonomous systems and ways for humans to intervene when systems behave unexpectedly. “Most importantly, human beings must ultimately remain in control and accountable,” he said.
Balakrishnan also called AI “the most urgent frontier” and said countries must invest in science, talent and infrastructure so people can develop and use the technology safely. Singapore has proposed considering a U.N. Framework Convention on AI Safeguards.
Developing Countries Seek Wider Access
Jamaica’s Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Minister Kamina Johnson Smith said digital technologies could help reduce gaps between countries but warned against allowing AI to reinforce existing economic divisions.
“We must, therefore, not allow AI to deepen old inequalities and create an entirely new global divide,” Johnson Smith said. She called for greater investment in digital infrastructure, skills and capacity in developing countries, along with rules protecting privacy, intellectual property and data integrity.
The discussions placed youth employment and technology access within the broader debate over economic opportunity. Leaders argued that a growing young population alone does not guarantee faster growth without education, job creation and access to technology.
The U.N. has also warned at UNGA AI discussions that technological change can deepen existing inequalities when access to infrastructure, skills and innovation is uneven. During the General Assembly’s high-level week, governments continued to debate how to manage AI while widening access to its potential benefits.
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