PH to UN Security Council: Take lead in regulating AI’s military use

By Darryl John Esguerra, Philippine News Agency

FILE: Foreign Affairs Secretary Ma. Theresa Lazaro (right) at the Loss and Damage Fund Board high-level meeting, United Nations General Assembly in New York on Sept. 24, 2025. (Photo: @DFAPHL/X)

MANILA – The Philippines has urged the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to take the lead in regulating the military use of artificial intelligence (AI), warning that the unchecked development of autonomous and AI-enhanced weapons could trigger new global security threats.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Ma. Theresa Lazaro issued the call during the UNSC high-level debate on AI in New York, stressing that AI is no longer just a technological issue but a matter of international peace and stability.

The Philippines was part of the core group behind the 2024 UN General Assembly resolution on “Artificial Intelligence in the Military Domain,” which flagged the risks of an AI-driven arms race, accidental escalation and proliferation to non-state actors.

Lazaro said the rapid militarization of AI could “lower the threshold for conflict and escalate tensions,” particularly if autonomous capabilities spread without accountability.

She underscored that AI-assisted weapons must never operate beyond human authority.

“We should never leave life-and-death decisions solely to machines,” Lazaro said, invoking the outcome of the Manila Meeting on Autonomous Weapons Systems hosted by the Philippines in 2023.

“International governance must be in step with AI as it develops in leaps and bounds,” she said.

Lazaro pushed the Council to anchor any AI defense norms in international humanitarian law and human rights law.

“If AI is to be integrated in implementing peacekeeping mandates, there should be strong oversight to ensure that this tool only serves to protect and not to harm,” she said.

The country’s top diplomat also warned that AI misuse — from deepfake propaganda and algorithmic disinformation to automated targeting — can “destabilize democracies, undermine institutions and intensify conflict.”

To prevent escalation and miscalculation, Lazaro called for transparency among armed states and for “responsible private sector behavior” consistent with UN principles on human dignity.

While pushing for safeguards, she said the UNSC itself could benefit from “harnessing AI” in threat assessment, sanctions monitoring and counterterrorism, provided strict limits are in place.

“The Philippines looks to the UN Security Council to assert its leadership in harnessing AI as a force for good and a powerful driver of peace and security,” Lazaro said.