Technology companies, government officials and experts from around the world are meeting at Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire to discuss the future of artificial intelligence.
Billed as a “world first,” the AI Security Summit is intended to be a starting point for future AI policy, which has evolved rapidly in recent years.
Rishi Sunak said he wants the UK to “lead with our allies” in artificial intelligence, and the decision to host the conference is likely to make the country a home for AI innovation.
Here’s what you can expect from the two-day conference at Bletchley Park:
Why is the UK hosting an AI Security Summit?
Earlier this year, alarm bells began to ring about the future of artificial intelligence and its implications for humanity.
In March, more than 1,000 AI researchers and advocates signed a letter calling for the development of large-scale AI projects to be paused until the risks are better understood.
A few months later, Geoffrey Hinton, considered the “godfather of artificial intelligence,” announced that he was leaving his job at Google so that he could speak more freely about the risks technology poses to humanity.
In May, the UK government admitted for the first time that AI posed an “existential” threat, and Mr Sunak met with the heads of Google DeepMind, OpenAI and Anthropic AI to discuss how best to regulate the technology.
Just weeks after that meeting, the government announced it would host a “world’s first” AI safety summit, bringing together international governments, leading technology and AI companies, civil society and AI experts to discuss the risks posed by new AI technologies. .
The government said the focus at the summit will be on so-called edge artificial intelligence, which includes large language models (LLMs) that form the basis of AI chatbots such as ChatGPT and are expected to continue develop quickly.
The summit will take place at Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire, once home to World War II codebreakers, and aims to agree on measures to ensure the safe use of AI around the world.
Who will attend the AI Security Summit?
According to the published list, the event will be attended by Chinese government officials, as well as figures from the United States, France, Germany, Japan, India, the Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine and other countries.
The decision to include China among the countries represented has been controversial, and the event will reportedly be attended by a number of leading Chinese scientists.
Liz Truss, the former prime minister, on Thursday called on Sunak to “reconsider the invitation”. But after a speech on artificial intelligence last week, Mr Sunak said it was “absolutely right” to invite officials from Beijing.
Also confirmed are tech giants Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Samsung and Sony, as well as artificial intelligence companies Anthropic, Google DeepMind, OpenAI and Elon Musk’s startup xAI.
On Thursday, Elon Musk himself will be at the event, giving a live “conversation” about artificial intelligence. Number 10 is said to be “glad” they were able to find the owner
The government had previously denied that the summit was rejected by world leaders because French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz were not expected to attend. US President Joe Biden is not present, but his vice president Kamala Harris is in the UK to represent him.
What did Rishi Sunak say about AI safety?
In a speech on artificial intelligence last week, Mr Sunak said the UK should not “bury its head in the sand” when it comes to the risks posed by the technology.
“If you get it wrong, it could make it easier to create chemical or biological weapons. “Terrorist groups could use AI to spread fear and unrest on an even larger scale,” he warned.
“Criminals can use AI for cyberattacks, disinformation, fraud or even child sexual abuse.
“And in the most unlikely but extreme cases, there is even a risk that humanity will completely lose control of AI due to the type of AI that is sometimes called “superintelligence.”
The Prime Minister added that the UK would not rush to regulate AI, but added that regulation should be carried out by governments, not private companies.
“And only nation states have the power and legitimacy to protect their people. The UK’s answer is to take its time with regulation. “This is a fundamental question,” he said.
“We believe in innovation. This is a feature of the British economy, so we will always have the right to encourage it, not suppress it.”
He also outlined some of the potential benefits of AI, including how it could “save the NHS” or plan school lessons.
What are the goals of the AI Safety Summit?
In a report published by the government ahead of the summit, experts warned that much work remains to be done to ensure AI is safe and well regulated.
Many researchers have called for AI to be treated as a general-purpose technology like electricity, and regulated in the same way as other industries such as healthcare, aviation and nuclear energy.
Government officials reportedly fear the world has less than a year to create a global system to regulate AI before the technology could spiral out of control.
By hosting the summit, the UK hopes to be at the center of global technology oversight efforts, while making the UK a great place to start and grow an AI business.
But some critics say the summit’s scope is too narrow and looks too far into the future, rather than addressing problems already caused by AI, including disruptions in the labor market.
The documents, released ahead of the summit, contain just a few paragraphs discussing potential job losses due to AI, and three pages devoted to concerns that humans could one day lose control of AI entirely.
The documents also highlight concerns that AI could make it easier for terrorists to create chemical or biological weapons or use them in massive fake news campaigns to influence elections.
Will the AI Security Summit change anything?
Officials involved in organizing the Bletchley Park summit admitted that they would not make a final decision until the end.
Apparently, they are pushing for governments around the world to come to an agreement on AI regulation next summer, as they expect tech companies to release new models that are much more powerful than those currently available, and their own, not completely understandable to developers. .
The summit will likely serve to agree on some principles for AI regulation that can be incorporated into future policy discussions.
There were some signs that the conference was overshadowed after the US White House unilaterally issued an executive order mandating new AI protections to address national security risks, bias, discrimination and disinformation.
Former deputy prime minister Sir Nick Clegg, who is now Met’s global affairs president, said at an AI event in London ahead of the conference that there had been a “Dutch auction of people trying to outdo each other” on AI safety and warned It’s too early to talk about technology regulation.
“There is a real danger of putting the cart before the horse; that you develop more and more complex new institutions, restrictions and restrictions, and the power of government to intervene and limit it and police it before the technology even exists,” he said.
Source: I News
With a background in journalism and a passion for technology, I am an experienced writer and editor. As an author at 24 News Reporter, I specialize in writing about the latest news and developments within the tech industry. My work has been featured on various publications including Wired Magazine and Engadget.