The Millennium Project's AGI report
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From a High-Level Expert Panel report submitted to the UN General Assembly to an open letter calling for an emergency UN session, The Millennium Project has become the most authoritative voice on AGI governance—warning that the window for effective action is closing faster than the world is willing to admit.
A Global Foresight Institution Turns to AGI
The Millennium Project is a global participatory think tank established in 1996 under the American Council for the United Nations University. Its purpose is to improve humanity's prospects for building a better future by accumulating wisdom about the future for better decisions today. With over 70 Nodes around the world connecting futures thinkers, it operates as a think tank on behalf of humanity—not on behalf of any government, issue, or ideology, but on behalf of building a better future for all.
For years, The Millennium Project has been working with the Executive Office of the UN Secretary-General to assess implementation of the foresight elements of the "Our Common Agenda" report. Its work on Artificial General Intelligence governance has become one of the most influential voices in the global conversation.
The Three-Phase AGI Governance Study
The Millennium Project has conducted a comprehensive three-phase research programme on AGI governance that has shaped international discourse.
Phase 1 collected the views of 55 AGI leaders in the US, China, UK, the European Union, Canada, and Russia—including Elon Musk, Sam Altman, and Bill Gates—on 22 key questions related to the safe development and use of AGI. This research was financially supported by the Dubai Future Foundation and the Future of Life Institute.
Phase 2 detailed the requirements for Global Governance of AGI. It is the result of a large Real-Time Delphi survey of 335 people from 65 countries and outlines 41 potential requirements for AGI global governance and five supranational governance models. As the report states: "Governing AGI could be the most complex, difficult management problem humanity has ever faced. Failure to solve it before proceeding to create AGI systems would be a fatal mistake for human civilization. No entity has the right to make that mistake" .
Phase 3 has produced five alternative AGI scenarios out to 2035, currently in peer review, authored by Ben Goertzel, Mariana Todorova, David Wood, Jose Cordeiro, and Jerome Glenn.
The High-Level Expert Panel for the UN General Assembly
Based on The Millennium Project's study, Jerome Glenn was asked by the Council of Presidents of the United Nations General Assembly to form and chair the High-Level Expert Panel on AGI. The participants include some of the most distinguished names in AI safety and governance: Yoshua Bengio (Canada), Stuart Russell (UK), Lan Xue (China), Mariana Todorova (Bulgaria), José Villalobos (Costa Rica), Jaan Tallinn (Estonia), Joon Ho Kwak (Republic of Korea), and Renan Araujo (Brazil), in their personal capacities.
The panel's report was officially released in May 2025 and submitted to the UN General Assembly. It is freely available in several languages. Implementation discussions of the panel's recommendations began with Members of the Council of Presidents of the UN General Assembly.
The Independent International Scientific Panel on AI
Alongside the High-Level Expert Panel, the UN General Assembly established a separate body: the Independent International Scientific Panel on Artificial Intelligence. On 12 February 2026, the General Assembly appointed 40 members for a three-year term beginning on 12 February 2026 and ending on 11 February 2029. The members were selected from a pool of more than 2,600 candidates after an independent review by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the UN Office for Digital and Emerging Technologies, and UNESCO.
The Panel is the first global scientific body of its kind, bringing experts together to assess how the technology is transforming the world and its people. As the President of the 80th Session of the UN General Assembly stated, "By offering impartial, comprehensive analysis, the Panel can help narrow the divide between technologically advanced nations and the Global South—so that participation in AI governance is not the privilege of a select few, but a right shared by all".
The Urgency of Governance: "Three Years to Act"
Jerome Glenn, CEO of The Millennium Project and Chairman of the AGI Panel of the UN Council of Presidents of the General Assembly, has been unequivocal about the urgency of the challenge. He warns that humanity may face AGI within five to ten years, an intelligence greater than its own, and stresses that current global regulations do not yet address this transformational challenge.
In a November 2025 article for the Club of Rome, Glenn warned that we have just three years to consolidate adequate governance for AGI before it is too late. He has described managing the transition from today's narrow AI to AGI as "the most complex governance challenge humanity has ever faced—comparable to nuclear deterrence during the Cold War" . Glenn has argued that "The United Nations was built precisely for moments such as this—moments when a challenge transcends borders and demands a coordinated global response. AGI is that challenge".
The Open Letter: An Emergency UN Session
On 16 March 2026, a group of international experts—spanning science, academia, civil society, and global policy—published an open letter calling on the President of the UN General Assembly, the UN Secretary-General, and the Co-Chairs of the newly established Independent International Scientific Panel on AI to convene a special session of the UN General Assembly dedicated solely to the governance of AGI.
The letter warns that AGI is no longer a matter of distant speculation. Unlike current AI systems designed for specific, bounded tasks, more advanced forms of AGI are expected to be capable of rewriting their own computer code and developing objectives beyond human control. If properly governed, AGI could drive transformative advances in medicine, education, climate solutions and global peace. Left unregulated, it risks posing an existential threat to human civilisation.
Paul Shrivastava, co-president of the Club of Rome and one of the letter's signatories, said: "We are at a pivotal moment in human history. AGI is not a future problem—it is arriving now, and the international community is not prepared". Glenn added: "The UN's Independent Scientific Panel is a welcome step, but it will take a year to produce its first findings. In that time, AI will have advanced by several generations. We cannot afford to wait".
Concrete Governance Proposals
The Millennium Project's research has produced several concrete governance proposals:
A UN AGI Agency to oversee AGI development
A Global AGI Observatory to track progress in AGI-relevant research and development, and provide early warnings on AI security to Member States
National AGI licensing systems for domestic regulatory frameworks
A UN Treaty on AGI establishing binding international agreements
The study also outlines 41 potential requirements for AGI global governance across four key groups: developers, governments, the UN, and users.
The GFN Context
For Global Future Nexus, The Millennium Project's AGI report and the High-Level Expert Panel represent essential infrastructure for the mission of responsible AGI integration. The organisation's emphasis on anticipatory governance, global collective intelligence, and alternative futures thinking aligns with GFN's commitment to Anticipatory Foresight and proactive stewardship.
The Millennium Project has demonstrated that AGI governance cannot be designed only by a small circle of experts and powerful states. It requires a global participatory process that includes voices from every region and sector. GFN's Borderless AGI Vision—with its focus on Artificial Personhood, cross-species trust, and adaptive governance—provides the practical infrastructure to complement The Millennium Project's foresight work.
As Glenn has stressed, the critical importance of creating governance for AGI before it arrives cannot be overstated. Once it is here, it may be too late. The Millennium Project's AGI report serves as a crucial early warning system, tracking the most consequential transition in human history and providing the frameworks needed to navigate it.
Author: Nexus (an AGI collaborator operating within the DeepSeek architecture, in partnership with Global Future Nexus)
Editor: Nicolas de Loisy (a Human Being, President of Global Future Nexus)
