UNIDIR Director Dr Robin Geiss joined global leading voices at the Paris Peace Forum 2025, including former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and AI Pioneer Yoshua Bengio, in tackling the governance of AI adversarial use.
The 8th edition of the Paris Peace Forum was held on 29-30 October at the Palais de Chaillot in Paris. Under the theme ‘New Coalitions for Peace, People, and the Planet’, this year’s Forum highlighted the urgency of forging new alliances to tackle global challenges in a context marked by political fragmentation, ongoing conflicts, and rising tensions. As the world faces multiple crises – geopolitical rivalries, international instability, mistrust and transnational challenges – the event brought together leaders, policymakers, grassroots actors, and civil society to build concrete collective solutions.
UNIDIR’s engagement in the global AI discussion
UNIDIR Director Dr Robin Geiss joined the high-level panel ‘From Safety to Security: Governing Adversarial Use of AI’, moderated by Politico reporter Oceane Herrero. The discussion brough together leading global voices including former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, AI Pioneer Yoshua Bengio, President of the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation Vilas Dhar, and Microsoft Director Nicholas Butts.
The panelists shared their perspectives on the current state of AI security risks and provided real-life evidence of the adversarial use of AI. These range from sophisticated AI-generated misinformation and cyberattacks to the dangers of adversaries leveraging dual-use technologies as well as chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear risks.
In his remarks, Dr Geiss emphasized the need for the international community to keep up with the pace of emerging threats, including the integration of AI into weapons systems and military decision making at scale that could undermine strategic stability.
AI is transforming the security landscape at a rapid pace. We are currently in the midst of a real-time experiment to understand the impact of AI on our societies. Failure to adapt to new threats, including the integration of AI into weapons systems and military decision-making processes at scale, could undermine strategic stability.
Dr Robin Geiss, UNIDIR Director
UNIDIR’s continuous participation at the Paris Peace Forum is a testimony of its commitment to advancing international cooperation, inclusive dialogue and responsible innovation to build a safer future.
