As countries and tech companies continue to look for solutions to curb the risks of artificial intelligence (AI), one approach could be that governments work together to create a regulatory framework for emerging technologies. Thus, a global AI safety and regulation summit will be hosted in the United Kingdom (UK) later this year.
The UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced “the first major global summit on AI safety” on June 7 while on an official visit to Washington. The UK government also made a press release for the same. The summit aims to bring “key countries, leading tech companies, and researchers” to assess and scrutinise the dangers posed by artificial intelligence.
The press release states, “The summit, which will be hosted in the UK this autumn, will consider the risks of AI, including frontier systems, and discuss how they can be mitigated through internationally coordinated action. It will also provide a platform for countries to work together on further developing a shared approach to mitigate these risks.”
Rishi Sunak noted that AI has enormous potential for improving lives but said it must be developed safely and securely. He said, “AI has an incredible potential to transform our lives for the better. But we need to make sure it is developed and used in a way that is safe and secure.” He added, “Time and time again throughout history, we have invented paradigm-shifting new technologies, and we have harnessed them for the good of humanity. That is what we must do again.”
The press release states, “Breakthroughs from AI continue to improve our lives – from enabling paralysed people to walk to discovering superbug-killing antibiotics. But the development of AI is extraordinarily fast moving, and this pace of change requires agile leadership”.
In the last few months, many researchers, companies and countries have expressed their concerns about the potential for “AI to endanger humanity in similar ways to pandemics or nuclear weapons.”
The UK Prime Minister previously conducted meetings with several businesspeople and world leaders. Last month at the 49th G7 summit, the participating nations discussed a shared AI approach. In May, Sunak also met the CEOs of OpenAI, DeepMind, and Anthropic, who’re developing Artificial intelligence. The primary purpose of these meetings was to understand the technology’s potential and dangers.
The upcoming Global AI summit will be “build on recent discussions at the G7, OECD and Global Partnership on AI”. Sunak said, “No one country can do this alone. This is going to take a global effort. But with our vast expertise and commitment to an open, democratic international system, the UK will stand together with our allies to lead the way”.
The UK government has not revealed the invitees, but the press release mentioned OpenAI, DeepMind, Anthropic, Palantir, Microsoft, Google and Faculty. Earlier this month, OpenAI and Anthropic announced opening offices in London.
The CEO and Co-Founder of Google’s DeepMind, Demis Hassabis, talked about the potential of Artificial intelligence, “AI brings incredible opportunities but also challenges for the world, and international cooperation is essential for ensuring this technology is developed safely and responsibly for the benefit of everyone.”
He then commented about the upcoming Global AI summit, “The Global Summit on AI Safety will play a critical role in bringing together government, industry, academia and civil society, and we’re looking forward to working closely with the UK Government to help make these efforts a success.”
The CEO of Anthropic, Dario Amodei, states, “It’s deeply important we make AI safe. There is an enormous amount of work that still needs to be done. So we commend the Prime Minister for bringing the world together to find answers and have smart conversations.”
The United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, European Union and India are developing a legal framework to regulate Artificial Intelligence. The upcoming Global Summit on AI will be crucial in deciding the future of this rapidly progressing technology.
