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Title: Is AI writing UN speeches?
Author: Sophia Cai and Ben Johansen
Publication: POLITICO
Date: September 28, 2026
Click here for the article
Summary: A GPTZero analysis found near-identical language in several countries’ speeches at the 81st United Nations General Assembly, including passages about restoring trust, rising seas and equal representation. The article reports that repeated wording and patterns associated with AI-generated text raise questions about AI-assisted speechwriting but do not establish that AI was used. Montenegro attributed the similarities to the session’s shared theme and common diplomatic vocabulary; Canada referred inquiries to Global Affairs Canada, which did not immediately comment, and the other embassies contacted did not respond.
Quotes:
“The instances of repeated language cannot establish that AI was used: speechwriters may be drawing on common diplomatic phrasing, publicly available material or one another’s speeches.”
“Similarities in phrasing are not surprising bearing in mind that speakers are responding to the same theme and drawing on vocabulary common to multilateral diplomacy,” a spokesperson to the office of Montenegro’s president said.
This is thought provoking. Presumably the speeches that really matter are still being written by humans - and some leaders give speeches without reading their script.
ReplyDeleteProbably not! Had AI written all the speeches, we might have heard something more balanced, coherent and useful. Recycled diplomatic language hardly requires artificial intelligence; the UN has, unaided, been producing it for decades.
ReplyDeleteOn reflection, perhaps we should let AI have a go. Asked to examine the evidence, acknowledge competing interests and propose workable compromises, it might find common ground on issues that human diplomacy has kept “unresolved” for generations.
AI is cheaper than hiring a speechwriter. Also, I don't have the patience to sit through 194 speeches. Just let an AI summarize the whole twaddle.
ReplyDeleteMore importantly: the political class needs to stop talking and start acting!
And finally: this entire affair proves that my charity needs more money. From you.
Perhaps Kamuzu Banda, the former President-for-Life of Malawi, had it right—schools should teach Latin and Ancient Greek so that statesmen can build oratory skills, and possibly win the Nobel prize for Literature.
ReplyDeleteDid aid help Banda stay in power?
Delete@ Anonymous: Western donors massively helped keep Kamuzu Banda in power to 'contain communism,' but this changed with the end of the Cold War. In May 1992, Western donors—including the US and the wider EU, including the UK—agreed to freeze all but humanitarian aid to force political liberalization and human rights reform. Just one month after I arrived in Malawi, in June 1993, the democracy referendum took place, resulting in an overwhelming majority in favour of a multiparty system. Many of Malawi's development issues remain, but the aid freeze was undeniably the catalyst for change.
DeleteAid containing communism, promoting political liberalisation and human rights - perfect.
DeleteThis is probably the right time to remind member states that they are all beginning to sound alike, borrowing too heavily from the same reservoir of “artificial intelligence”. Their best chance of saving grace lies in making short, meaningful statements of their own, rather than playing the same old tune.
DeleteA similar problem existed with the subtitles, which sometimes were quite funny. The President of Naura (Naoera), for example, seemed to refer to NATO all the time, which made me suspicious. An island in the Pacific associated with NATO? He concluded his speech with "... the Nation of NATO.", obviouly meaning Naura..
ReplyDelete