UN AI for Good Summit censors Dr. Birhane to mask ‘Ethical AI’ enabling mass surveillance and genocide in Gaza

Skyline International for Human Rights (SIHR) is gravely alarmed by the reported censorship that took place during the 2025 UN AI for Good Summit, hosted last week in Geneva by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a platform that claims to support open, inclusive, and ethical conversations around the future of artificial intelligence.

The controversy was sparked by the principled stand of Dr. Abeba Birhane, an Ethiopian scholar, researcher, and expert on the social impacts of AI. According to multiple accounts, Dr. Birhane was pressured by organizers to make significant changes to her presentation before going on stage. For more than one hour, she was instructed to remove references to "Israel," "Palestine," and "genocide", and to avoid mentioning major tech companies—including Microsoft, Meta, and Google—in relation to war crimes or unlawful activities.

Despite this pressure, Dr. Birhane proceeded with her talk and raised important, evidence-based concerns about how AI systems are being used in real-world contexts of war, displacement, and surveillance. She explicitly spoke about the current situation in Gaza, pointing to the role of technology companies in enabling harm through tools used in military operations and population monitoring.

Shortly after her remarks, the livestream of the session was abruptly shut down. As of now, no full video of the panel has been made available to the public, and no explanation has been given. The decision to cut the stream and withhold the recording appears to be a clear act of censorship, aimed at limiting public access to viewpoints that challenge powerful state and corporate interests.

This case is particularly troubling when considered alongside the summit's corporate partnerships. The AI for Good Summit was sponsored by several companies that have been directly linked to defense, surveillance, and military infrastructure, including Microsoft and IBM. Both companies have been accused of complicity in war crimes by supplying Israel with technologies used in Gaza, and for their broader roles in developing military cloud computing, predictive policing tools, and mass biometric data collection that facilitated the targeting and killing of Palestinians.

Promotional materials from the event even highlighted AI collaborations with the United States Air Force and domestic law enforcement agencies, revealing how deeply the summit is connected to military and policing interests. Far from being marginal, these issues are key to understanding how AI is being shaped and whose interests it ultimately serves.

It is not possible to have a serious conversation about “AI for Good” while shutting down critical voices that raise questions about how these technologies are actually being deployed in the world today. When truth is filtered to protect power, and speakers are told to leave out facts or avoid naming perpetrators, affected populations, or technologies tied to atrocity, what follows is not dialogue. It is complicity.

It silences the oppressed and replaces meaningful accountability with hollow conversations that sidestep the devastating human impact of AI when deployed in contexts of warfare, occupation, and genocide.

What happened at this summit is not simply a technical failure or a miscommunication. It is a violation of basic principles of open discussion and academic freedom, especially at a UN-hosted event that claims to be committed to human rights and justice.

SIHR urges the United Nations and AI for Good Summit organizers to:

• Publicly acknowledge what occurred, including the pressure placed on Dr. Birhane to censor her presentation and the unexplained removal of the livestream.
• Release the full, unedited recording of the panel to ensure transparency and allow the public to have full access to Dr. Birhane’s presentation.
• Affirm the importance of ethical dissent and critical voices, particularly those raising concerns about how AI technologies are being used in war, occupation, and the violation of human rights.
• Put clear safeguards in place to prevent future censorship, including guidelines to protect speakers from political pressure or interference in the content of their presentations.
• Review current sponsorship and partnership policies, especially when those sponsors have been linked to military activities or grave human rights violations. Companies accused of complicity in such actions should not influence the programming or tone of UN events.

SIHR stands in full solidarity with Dr. Abeba Birhane and with all researchers, advocates, and whistleblowers who speak out against the deadly impacts of technology as tools of oppression and violence. Their work is essential for building a just, responsible, and rights-respecting future for AI. Silencing these voices, especially in a space meant to encourage ethical reflection, sends a dangerous message.

If the UN allows these practices to continue, it risks losing credibility as a platform for fair and open dialogue on technology and human rights. Real progress in AI must begin with truth, accountability, and the courage to confront power. Anything less is neither safety nor innovation; it is a failure of responsibility.