UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The General Assembly adopted the first United Nations resolution on artificial intelligence on Thursday, providing global support for international efforts to ensure that the powerful new technology benefits all nations, respects human rights and is “safe and trustworthy ” is.

The resolution, sponsored by the United States and co-sponsored by 123 countries, was adopted by consensus with a gavel and without a vote, meaning it has the support of all 193 UN member states.

U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said earlier this month that the resolution’s adoption was a “historic step forward” in promoting the safe use of AI.

The resolution “would represent global support for a set of fundamental principles for the development and use of AI and provide a path forward for the sustained use of AI systems while managing the risks,” he said in a statement to The Associated Press.

The United States worked with more than 120 countries – including Russia, China and Cuba – for several months to negotiate the text, senior U.S. officials said.

“At a moment when it feels like the world is hardly in agreement, perhaps the quietest and most radical aspect of this resolution is the broad consensus forged in the name of advancing progress,” said U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas- Greenfield the assembly just before the meeting vote.

“The United Nations and artificial intelligence are contemporaries, both born in the years after World War II,” she said. “The two have grown and developed in parallel. Today, as the UN and AI finally intersect, we have the opportunity and responsibility to choose, as a united global community, to govern this technology rather than let it govern us. ”

After the vote, ambassadors from the Bahamas, Japan, the Netherlands, Morocco, Singapore and the United Kingdom met with the U.S. ambassador for a press conference to support the resolution as an important step for all nations.

The resolution aims to close the digital divide between rich developed countries and poorer developing countries and ensure that they are all involved in discussions on AI. It also aims to ensure that developing countries have the technology and skills to harness the benefits of AI, including detecting diseases, predicting floods, supporting farmers and training the next generation of workers.

The resolution recognizes the rapid acceleration of AI development and use and emphasizes “the urgency of reaching a global consensus on safe and trustworthy artificial intelligence systems.”

It also recognizes that “the governance of artificial intelligence systems is an evolving area” that requires further discussion on possible governance approaches.

Big tech companies have generally supported the need to regulate AI while advocating for all rules to work in their favor.

European Union lawmakers gave final approval to the world’s first comprehensive AI rules on March 13, which are expected to come into force in May or June after some final formalities.

Countries around the world, including the US and China, as well as the Group of 20 major industrialized nations are also in the process of developing AI regulations. The UN resolution notes other UN efforts, including by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the International Telecommunications Union, to ensure that AI is used to benefit the world.

Sullivan told AP that the United States had turned to the General Assembly “to have a truly global conversation about how to address the impact of the rapidly advancing technology of AI.”

The resolution encourages all countries, regional and international organizations, technology communities, civil society, the media, academia, research institutions and individuals to develop and support “regulatory and governance approaches and frameworks” for secure AI systems.

It warns against “improper or malicious design, development, deployment and use of artificial intelligence systems, for example without appropriate safeguards or in a manner inconsistent with international law”.

A key goal, according to the resolution, is to use AI to drive progress toward achieving the United Nations’ severely lagging 2030 development goals, including ending world hunger and poverty, improving global health, ensuring quality secondary education for all Children and the achievement of gender equality.

The resolution calls on the 193 UN member states and others to help developing countries reap the benefits of digital transformation and secure AI systems. It “emphasizes that human rights and fundamental freedoms must be respected, protected and promoted throughout the life cycle of artificial intelligence systems.”