U.N. General Assembly to Confront Familiar Crises, New Conflicts and A.I.

U.N. General Assembly to Confront Familiar Crises, New Conflicts and A.I. - The New York Times

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U.N. General Assembly to Confront Familiar Crises, New Conflicts and A.I.

The United Nations is also searching for a replacement for António Guterres, who has served two terms as the secretary general and is stepping down.

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!A person with a haversack is seen from behind walking on a sloped path in a dark, cloudy urban scene. Tall buildings, a flag and a lit bridge are shown.

*The United Nations headquarters in New York. For the first time, the threat posed by artificial intelligence will be atop the agenda of the U.N. General Assembly meeting this week.

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Graham Dickie/The New York Times*

By

Farnaz Fassihi

Farnaz Fassihi has covered the U.N. and the annual General Assembly gathering of world leaders for 11 years through four U.S. administrations.

Sept. 21, 2026, 5:04 a.m. ET

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World leaders will converge in New York this week for the United Nations General Assembly with the Middle East in turmoil, war raging between Russia and Ukraine, old alliances in peril, energy prices rising and scientists warning that artificial intelligence could imperil humanity.

“It would be hard to imagine a scenario as threatening as the one we’re facing right now,” acknowledged António Guterres, who has served two terms as the U.N. secretary general since 2017 and will step down at the end of December.

The U.S.-Israeli war with Iran and its reverberations on the world economy and oil supplies will be a major topic. And Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, is expected to implore world leaders not to forget his country.

But for the first time at the world body, the threat posed by artificial intelligence has jumped to the top of the agenda. U.N. leaders plan to seek global cooperation for guardrails around the rapidly advancing technology.

Against the backdrop of these challenges, the U.N. is searching for its next leader, who will take the helm in January. Seven candidates are in the running after Michelle Bachelet, former Chilean president and ex-high commissioner of the U.N.’s Human Rights Council, dropped out. But so far no clear front-runner has emerged, diplomats said, because the United Nations Security Council, the body responsible for selecting the secretary general, has not reached a consensus.

Mr. Guterres will deliver his final address to the General Assembly on Tuesday, and he is expected to close his tenure by urging world leaders to defend international law, protect human rights, invest in sustainable development and push for peace.

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