The United Nations has formed an advisory board on artificial intelligence comprised of 39-members from government, academia and industry who will “undertake analysis and advance recommendations for the international governance of AI.” The move comes as U.S. legislators and tech industry players are also prioritizing model governance. “Globally coordinated AI governance is the only way to harness AI for humanity while addressing its risks and uncertainties,” the UN announced in unveiling the initiative, co-chaired by Carme Artigas, Spain’s secretary of state for digitalization and AI, and James Manyika, SVP of research, technology and society at Google.

Territorial expertise ranges from Pretoria to Pakistan, and includes representation from Germany, Japan, Israel and South Korea. Academians form China and Russia are included on the membership roster, which includes private companies Microsoft, Sony, Hugging Face and OpenAI.

“The advisory board will operate as a bridging group, covering any other initiatives that are put together around AI by the international organization,” writes TechCrunch, noting that the UN has been in talks with industry members and stakeholders “for the better part of a month” as the global body works to release AI best practice recommendations timed to its Summit of the Future event in mid 2024.

The body “will offer diverse perspectives and options on how AI can be governed for the common good, aligning internationally interoperable governance with human rights” and the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Members are encouraged to “engage and consult widely with existing and emerging initiatives and international organizations, to bridge perspectives across stakeholder groups and networks” as AI-related applications, algorithms and computing capacity become widespread internationally.

“Against the backdrop of the UN’s Thursday announcement, OpenAI LP launched a new team tasked with identifying potential risks in its AI models,” reports SiliconANGLE, pointing out that this past summer the White House enlisted tech firms in coming up with a slate of commitments designed to ensure artificial intelligence will be used safely.

“The last year has seen an extraordinary advance in the capabilities and use of artificial intelligence, through chatbots, voice cloning, image generators, video apps and more,” remarked UN Secretary General António Guterres, marveling that the technology afforded him “the surreal experience of watching myself deliver a speech in flawless Chinese — despite the fact that I do not speak Chinese and the lips movement corresponded exactly to what I was saying.”

TIME has posted video of Guterres’ announcement, writing that “while the body will have little power itself, its recommendations could decide the form and function of a UN agency for the governance of AI.”