A surge in the development of powerful artificial intelligence (AI) tools is already improving lives but is also bringing fresh urgency to calls for regulation, as more and more governments wake up to the risks. Effective global regulation to ensure that AI is developed safely for the benefit of all is urgently needed.

Earlier this year, an audience in a Geneva conference hall sat captivated by a video screen carrying live pictures of a 25-year-old man in Portugal suffering from 'locked-in syndrome', a devastating neurological disorder that causes patients to lose control of their body; some two years after contracting the condition, he was unable to move or speak.