Digital officials, tech company bosses and researchers are converging Wednesday at a former codebreaking spy base near London to discuss and better understand the extreme risks posed by cutting-edge artificial intelligence. The two-day summit focuses on so-called frontier AI — the latest and most powerful systems that take the technology right up to its limits, but could come with as-yet-unknown dangers. They’re underpinned by foundation models, which power chatbots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard and are trained on vast pools of information scraped from the internet. Some 100 people from 28 countries are expected to attend Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s two-day AI Safety Summit, though the British government has refused to disclose the guest list. The event is a labor of love for Sunak, a tech-loving former banker who wants the U.K. to be a hub for computing innovation and has framed the summit as the start of a global conversation about the safe development of AI. But Vice President Kamala Harris stole the focus on Wednesday with a separate speech in London setting out the U.S. administration’s more hands-on approach.
Quick Read
- AI Safety Summit in London:
- Digital officials, tech company leaders, and researchers gather at Bletchley Park, a former World War II codebreaking base, to discuss risks of advanced artificial intelligence.
- The focus is on frontier AI and foundation models like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard.
- The summit is initiated by UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, aiming to make the UK a hub for computing innovation.
- Attendees:
- About 100 people from 28 countries are attending.
- Attendees include Kamala Harris, Elon Musk, Ursula von der Leyen, Antonio Guterres, and Yoshua Bengio among others.
- China’s invitation to the summit caused controversy within the UK’s Conservative Party.
- Objectives and Discussions:
- Sunak aims for delegates to agree on a communique about AI risks.
- Sunak emphasizes the dangers of frontier AI, including potential use in biological warfare and terrorism.
- While Sunak urges caution before rushing to regulate AI, Harris emphasizes addressing current issues like bias, discrimination, and misinformation.
- Regulation and Oversight:
- Sunak believes only governments can ensure safety from AI risks.
- Harris plans to stress the Biden administration’s commitment to holding companies accountable without stifling innovation.
- Harris references President Biden’s recent executive order on AI safeguards and will introduce an AI Safety Institute.
- Military Use of AI:
- Harris will promote a U.S.-backed pledge for the responsible and ethical use of AI in military contexts.
The Associated Press has the story:
UK AI summit: US VP Kamala Harris says more must be done now
Newslooks- BLETCHLEY PARK, England (AP)
Delegates from 28 nations, including the U.S. and China, agreed Wednesday to work together to contain the potentially “catastrophic” risks posed by galloping advances in artificial intelligence.
The first international AI Safety Summit, held at a former codebreaking spy base near London, focused on cutting-edge “frontier” AI that some scientists warn could pose a risk to humanity’s very existence.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the declaration was “a landmark achievement that sees the world’s greatest AI powers agree on the urgency behind understanding the risks of AI – helping ensure the long-term future of our children and grandchildren.”
But Vice President Kamala Harris urged Britain and other countries to go further and faster, in a speech stressing the transformations AI is already bringing and the need to hold tech companies accountable — including through legislation.
In a speech at the U.S. Embassy, Harris said we need to start acting now to address “the full spectrum” of AI risks, not just the most catastrophic.
“There are additional threats that also demand our action, threats that are currently causing harm and to many people also feel existential,” she said, citing a senior citizen kicked off his health care plan because of a faulty AI algorithm or a woman threatened by an abusive partner with deep fake photos.
The AI Safety Summit is a labor of love for Sunak, a tech-loving former banker who wants the U.K. to be a hub for computing innovation and has framed the summit as the start of a global conversation about the safe development of AI.
Harris, speaking at the U.S. Embassy, set out the Biden administration’s more hands-on approach to “AI safety and equity.”
“President Biden and I believe that all leaders … have a moral, ethical and social duty to make sure that AI is adopted and advanced in a way that protects the public from potential harm and ensures that everyone is able to enjoy its benefits,” she said.
Digital officials, tech company bosses and researchers are converging Wednesday at a former codebreaking spy base near London to discuss and better understand the extreme risks posed by cutting-edge artificial intelligence.
The two-day summit focuses on so-called frontier AI — the latest and most powerful systems that take the technology right up to its limits, but could come with as-yet-unknown dangers. They’re underpinned by foundation models, which power chatbots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard and are trained on vast pools of information scraped from the internet.
Some 100 people from 28 countries are expected to attend Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s two-day AI Safety Summit, though the British government has refused to disclose the guest list.
The event is a labor of love for Sunak, a tech-loving former banker who wants the U.K. to be a hub for computing innovation and has framed the summit as the start of a global conversation about the safe development of AI. But Vice President Kamala Harris stole the focus on Wednesday with a separate speech in London setting out the U.S. administration’s more hands-on approach.
She attends the summit on Thursday alongside government officials from more than two dozen countries including Canada, France, Germany, India, Japan, Saudi Arabia — and China, invited over the protests of some members of Sunak’s governing Conservative Party.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk is also scheduled to discuss AI with Sunak in a livestreamed conversation on Thursday night. The tech billionaire was among those who signed a statement earlier this year raising the alarm about the perils that AI poses to humanity.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and executives from U.S. artificial intelligence companies such as Anthropic and influential computer scientists like Yoshua Bengio, one of the “godfathers” of AI, are also expected.
The meeting is being held at Bletchley Park, a former top secret base for World War II codebreakers that’s seen as a birthplace of modern computing.
One of Sunak’s major goals is to get delegates to agree on a first-ever communique about the nature of AI risks. He said the technology brings new opportunities but warns about frontier AI’s threat to humanity, because it could be used to create biological weapons or be exploited by terrorists to sow fear and destruction.
Only governments, not companies, can keep people safe from AI’s dangers, Sunak said last week. However, in the same speech, he also urged against rushing to regulate AI technology, saying it needs to be fully understood first.
In contrast, Harris will stress the need to address the here and now, including “societal harms that are already happening such as bias, discrimination and the proliferation of misinformation.”
Harris plans to stress that the Biden administration is “committed to hold companies accountable, on behalf of the people, in a way that does not stifle innovation,” including through legislation.
“As history has shown in the absence of regulation and strong government oversight, some technology companies choose to prioritize profit over: Tthe wellbeing of their customers; the security of our communities; and the stability of our democracies,” she plans to say.
She’ll point to President Biden’s executive order this week, setting out AI safeguards, as evidence the U.S. is leading by example in developing rules for artificial intelligence that work in the public interest. Among measures she will announce is an AI Safety Institute, run through the Department of Commerce, to help set the rules for “safe and trusted AI.”
Harris also will encourage other countries to sign up to a U.S.-backed pledge to stick to “responsible and ethical” use of AI for military aims.
A White House official gave details of Harris’s speech, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss her remarks in advance.
