Representatives and companies from 28 countries, including the US, China, and the EU, signed an agreement at UK’s AI Safety Summit 2023 to address the risks posed by frontier AI models.
The agreement, signed at the global summit held at Bletchley Park in the UK on November 1 and 2, targets the potential catastrophic risks associated with the technology.
The Bletchley Declaration on AI Safety is named after its venue Bletchley Park, the birthplace of modern computing and the site of the British code-breaking operation in World War II led by computer science pioneer Alan Turing.
28 countries sign declaration
The UK government called it a “world-first” agreement between the signatories, which aims to identify the “AI safety risks of shared concern” and build “respective risk-based policies across countries”.
The declaration was signed by 28 countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, European Union, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Saudi Arabia, Netherlands, Nigeria ,The Philippines, Republic of Korea, Rwanda, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, Türkiye, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates (UAE), United Kingdom and United States.
UK’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said “Today we’ve reached a historic agreement, with governments and AI companies working together to test the safety of their models before and after they are released. The UK’s AI Safety Institute will play a vital role in leading this work, in partnership with countries around the world.”
Elon Musk and world leaders attend AI summit at Bletchley Park
The summit was attended by tech experts, global leaders, and representatives from 27 countries and the European Union.
Tech billionaire Elon Musk along with the US Vice President, Kamala Harris, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen attended the summit.
In a sit-down conversation with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Musk warned about the risks of artificial intelligence declaring AI “one of the most disruptive forces in history”. The conversation on Thursday focused on the dangers and opportunities of AI.
“We’re not stronger or faster than other creatures, but we are more intelligent. And here we are, for the first time really in human history, with something that’s going to be far more intelligent than us,” said Musk, who co-founded the ChatGPT developer OpenAI and has launched a new venture called xAI. “AI will be a force for good most likely. But the probability of it going bad is not zero percent,” he added.
EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen warned AI came with risks and opportunities, mentioning how quantum physics gave humans nuclear energy but also societal risks such as the atomic bomb.
“We are entering a completely different era. We are now at the dawn of an era where machines can act intelligently. My wish for the next five years is that we learn from the past, and act fast!” she said.
US Vice President Harris said it was high time to address “the full spectrum” of AI risks and not only the “existential” fears about the threats posed by cyberattacks or bioweapons.
China joins summit
Chinese Vice Minister of Science and Technology Wu Zhaohui helmed a delegation that attended the AI Safety Summit, highlighting China’s intent to encourage dialogue on AI matters and consolidate efforts toward a governance framework.
China, as a developing country, aims to facilitate exchanges and communication regarding AI safety with all participating nations, seeking to establish a broad consensus on governance frameworks, the delegation maintained.
The Chinese delegation emphasized the importance of exchanges and cooperation among countries concerning AI safety and global governance. The delegation also called for an increased representation of developing countries in AI governance to bridge intelligence and governance capacity gaps consistently.