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The heads of several major AI firms told the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) their industry urgently needed global oversight to avoid dangers that could threaten the whole world.

“If managed poorly, I even believe AI could be a risk to humanity as a whole,” Dario Amodei, the chief executive officer of Anthropic, told members of the body on Wednesday.

Sam Altman, the head of rival company OpenAI, echoed his concerns, telling the 15-member council tasked with tackling major crises globally that humanity could “lose control of the future of AI”.

The meeting, which coincides with the UN General Assembly (UNGA) gathering in New York City, was convened by France and comes at a time when experts are increasingly warning that the rapid development of AI needs more human oversight to ensure it does not slip out of control and cause a global catastrophe.

Altman and Amodei called on world leaders to take action.

“If AI is to be democratic, the most important decisions cannot be made by labs in San Francisco alone,” Altman told members. “They must be shaped through democratic processes and by governments accountable to the people they serve.”

Their concerns were shared by several representatives on the council, including the foreign ministers of France and the United Kingdom, who said the international community needed to step in and create common frameworks for how the technology should be controlled.

Hugging Face CEO Clement Delangue, whose company has come under attack by out-of-control AI models in recent months – incidents used by the other companies as evidence of the need for more safety measures – told the UNSC his company had relied on the technology to defend itself in those same incidents.

Delangue said Hugging Face had relied on a Chinese AI model to help defend against the attack by OpenAI’s AI agents, because it faced fewer restrictions than comparable US tools.

“We were attacked by AI, but more importantly, we defended ourselves with AI,” he told the council.

US and China reluctant to impose restrictions

In the United States, though, where the largest and most influential companies developing AI are based, the administration of US President Donald Trump has baulked at imposing new guardrails on the industry.

The administration’s representative at the UNSC meeting, Michael Kratsios, told members, “We totally reject all efforts by international bodies to assert centralised control and global governance of AI.”

Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to discuss whether and how to regulate AI during a visit to Washington, DC, this week. The two countries are locked in a technological race to develop more powerful AI tools, a competition that experts say makes it less likely that either country would want to impose any major new restrictions on their efforts right away.

Yet there is a growing recognition at the UN of the danger AI potentially poses to the world, said Daniel Forti, head of UN Affairs at the International Crisis Group. Member states understand that “there will be much more of a need for international cooperation, setting some rules of AI, even if the biggest players are more focused on growth opportunities than on some sort of collaboration,” Forti said.

For several years, the UN has been participating in multilateral meetings to shape everything from protections for workers from AI in emerging economies and ensuring open access to this technology, to following how AI is used in military conflicts. In 2024, the UNGA unanimously passed its first resolution on AI, a nonbinding statement that called on member states to protect personal data, monitor AI for risks and safeguard human rights.

The adoption of AI has taken off dramatically since then, and with it have come dire warnings from environmental groups, human rights advocates, and even the tech moguls whose companies are developing the tech.

The future of AI “cannot be decided by a handful of countries or left to the whims of a few billionaires”, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said at a global summit held earlier this year.

Last year, the UNGA formed two new bodies to deal with AI: the Independent International Scientific Panel on AI that brings together experts to provide governments with independent assessments, and the Global Dialogue on AI Governance, which provides a regular forum for discussing approaches to AI governance.

“The dangers are real and imminent,” Yoshua Bengio, a Canadian expert on AI and co-chair of the Independent International Scientific Panel, told the UNSC on Wednesday. “This council faces an unprecedented threat, one that none of its members would ⁠choose, that none can contain alone, and that does not respect the borders we defend.”

RIYADH: Companies listed across the Gulf Cooperation Council posted a record $74.8 billion in net profits in the second quarter of 2026, up 31.3 percent year on year, driven by gains in the energy and banking sectors, according to an analysis.  

In its latest report, Kamco Invest said the rise in net profit also reflected higher average crude oil prices amid the regional geopolitical situation, which more than offset a decline in crude oil exports from the region. 

Compared with the previous three months, net profit of listed companies in the GCC region increased 10 percent. 

The strong figures underscore the resilience of GCC corporates even as geopolitical tensions and regional disruptions continue to weigh on investor sentiment. The gains also highlight the continued importance of energy to Gulf corporate earnings, even as governments pursue economic diversification and non-oil sectors expand.  

In its report, Kamco stated: “At the country level, the increase in profits mainly reflected double-digit y-o-y growth in profits for Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Oman and 4.9 percent growth in profits for companies listed on Dubai Exchange.  

It added: “On the other hand, Qatari and Bahraini companies reported decline in quarterly profits by 20 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively.” 

Industry observer Tony Hallside, CEO of STP Partners, said the record $74.8 billion profit figure reflected strength beyond the headline number. “Higher oil prices clearly provided a major tailwind, with energy-sector profits rising more than 40 percent, but earnings growth across several other sectors shows that corporate activity remains resilient.”  

He added: “For investors, that breadth is arguably more important than the record number itself.”  

Aggregate revenues for GCC-listed companies rose 17 percent year on year to $381.6 billion in the second quarter and 8.1 percent quarter on quarter. 

Excluding Saudi Aramco, revenue growth for the rest of the region remained in double digits at 11.4 percent. 

Saudi Arabia leads growth 

Saudi-listed companies accounted for the bulk of the gain in the region, with aggregate net profits rising 36.7 percent to $45.3 billion from $33.2 billion a year earlier. 

Energy, banking and materials together made up 92 percent of Saudi earnings in the quarter. 

Saudi Aramco’s net profit increased 42 percent year on year to $32.4 billion, supported by a 19 percent rise in total revenue as realized crude prices climbed from $66.7 a barrel in the second quarter of 2025 to $108.1 a barrel in the second quarter of this year. 

Saudi Arabia’s banking sector net profits increased 8.3 percent to $6.6 billion from $6.1 billion, supported by strong lending growth and resilient operating income. 

Al Rajhi Bank reported $1.9 billion net profit, up from $1.6 billion, driven by a 13.7 percent increase in net income from financing and investments and a 13.3 percent rise in total operating income. 

Saudi National Bank recorded a 7.5 percent increase in net profit to $1.8 billion, mainly supported by a 1.6 percent rise in income from financing and investments. 

“Saudi Arabia remains the earnings engine of the GCC market. Aramco was clearly a major contributor as higher crude prices lifted energy earnings, but the more interesting figure is that Saudi-listed company revenues still grew around 11 percent excluding Aramco,” said Hallside.  

He noted that it points to “broader corporate momentum and gives investors more evidence that the opportunity set in Saudi equities is widening beyond the traditional energy story.”   

Wider regional outlook  

Kuwaiti companies recorded the largest percentage increase, with net profits almost doubling to $3.1 billion, partly reflecting the absence of large losses from discontinued operations that weighed on Agility in the year-earlier quarter. 

Abu Dhabi profits rose 41.8 percent year on year to $14.7 billion. Dubai-listed firms grew 4.9 percent to $6.9 billion. 

Qatari companies saw profits fall 20 percent to $2.9 billion, while Bahraini firms declined 0.4 percent to $572 million. Omani companies rose 24.2 percent to $1.4 billion. 

In the first half of 2026, aggregate net profits for GCC-listed companies rose 23.1 percent, or $26.8 billion, to $142.81 billion. The increase was led by almost 30 percent growth in Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia, followed by a 14.6 percent rise in Oman. Kuwaiti and Dubai-listed companies registered high single-digit growth, while Qatar and Bahrain recorded declines of 11.6 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively. 

Sectoral outlook  

Sector performance was mixed but broadly positive. Energy profits jumped 41.6 percent year on year to $36.2 billion in the second quarter. 

Food, beverage and tobacco more than doubled to $3.9 billion. Real estate, materials, capital goods and transportation also posted higher profits. 

Banks reached a record $17.8 billion, up from $16.6 billion, with six of seven country aggregates higher. Telecom recorded modest growth. Utilities, food and staples retailing, and media and entertainment declined. 

“What stands out is the divergence within the GCC. Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Oman all delivered double-digit profit growth, while Qatar and Bahrain saw declines. That tells investors this remains a market where country and sector selection matters,” said Hallside.  

He noted that banks and telecoms continued to grow, albeit more moderately, while energy, real estate, materials and transportation were stronger. “The GCC cannot be treated as one homogeneous equity market; earnings drivers are becoming increasingly differentiated,” Hallside added.