Morocco, the current president of the Francophone Ambassadors Group (GAF) in Geneva, organized a side event on Monday titled “Artificial Intelligence and Disarmament: Ongoing Processes and Practical Applications.”
The event took place at the Palais des Nations alongside informal United Nations discussions on the use of AI in military settings and its implications for international peace and security.
Held within the framework of UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/80/58, the event comes at a time when artificial intelligence is playing an increasingly prominent role in multilateral discussions on international security, particularly regarding autonomous weapons systems and emerging strategic challenges.
Co-organized with the International Organization of La Francophonie (OIF), the event brought together representatives of international organizations, France, and Morocco’s Royal Armed Forces.
In his opening remarks, Morocco’s Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva and President of the GAF, Omar Zniber, stressed that the issue has become a major concern and emphasized the need to incorporate ethical considerations into discussions on AI use amid growing global security challenges.
The meeting provided an opportunity to present key elements of Morocco’s approach to integrating AI into the military sphere.
This approach is based on a structured framework built around three complementary dimensions to ensure data protection, respect for command structures, alignment with national values, oversight throughout the AI lifecycle, and the preservation of meaningful human control over decision-making. Morocco underscored the importance of balancing technological innovation with security requirements, human-centered values, and respect for international law, while reaffirming its active engagement in international discussions on these issues.
For his part, Henri Monceau, Permanent Observer of the OIF to the UN in Geneva and Vienna, highlighted the challenges associated with the rapid development of AI and called for governance based on transparency and the protection of fundamental rights.
Federico Mantellassi, representing the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR), noted that AI can support disarmament objectives provided that transparency, robustness, and effective governance of AI systems are ensured. Anne Lazar-Sury, France’s Permanent Representative to the Conference on Disarmament, outlined an approach grounded in compliance with international humanitarian law, strict human oversight, and the preservation of the chain of command, while also highlighting AI’s potential to enhance operational capabilities.
The representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Laurent Gisel, pointed to the dual nature of AI as both a protective tool and a source of potential risks, calling for strong safeguards, continued human control, and measures to prevent problems stemming from algorithmic bias and targeting errors.
The discussions that followed pointed to the need for a balanced approach to artificial intelligence in the field of disarmament, one based on accountability, transparency, and international cooperation
