Publication of the International AI Safety Report 2026

The International AI Safety Report 2026 offers an updated analysis of the progress of general-purpose AI systems and the emerging risks associated with their development. The document, produced by over a hundred international experts and led by Professor Yoshua Bengio, provides a coordinated view aimed at guiding governments and regulatory bodies on how to manage the technical and social challenges posed by these technologies. The report highlights both the rapid advancements in capabilities and the emergence of new, more sophisticated threats, including the rise of deepfakes, cybersecurity risks, the potential misuse in biotechnology, and the unequal impact of AI across different regions.

Key Points:

• Global evidence-based assessment: The report provides a common framework for understanding the current state of advanced AI, synthesizing technical data and recent events to facilitate effective and proportionate regulatory decisions. Its approach seeks to address the so-called "evidence dilemma": acting without stifling innovation, while avoiding underestimated risks.
• Significant improvements in technical performance: the most advanced AI models are already achieving results comparable to the best in high-level mathematical tests and can autonomously perform complex software development tasks. However, these advancements are not uniform and limitations persist, with occasional errors even in low-complexity tasks.
• Increased risks associated with content manipulation: there is evidence of a growing use of synthetic generation tools for illicit purposes, such as fraud, scams, or the production of visual material without consent. This phenomenon has a particularly severe impact on vulnerable groups, such as women and minors, and also extends to the use of AI systems in cyberattacks and the exploitation of security vulnerabilities.
• Misuse risks in sensitive sectors: some internal assessments have shown that certain models may provide technical information that could be used in biological risk contexts. In response, companies have reinforced their mitigation measures, reopening the debate on the need for stricter safety frameworks.
• Deficiencies in current protection measures: despite advancements in security-oriented training techniques and systems for detecting AI-generated content, significant weaknesses persist. In particular, users with advanced technical skills may bypass certain controls, and the practical effectiveness of many security measures has yet to be fully validated.
• International dimension and need for regulatory coordination: the document was developed with the participation of a wide group of states and international organizations, and is emerging as a reference for regulatory debate on a global scale, in a context of growing need for coordination among different levels of governance.

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