IRIA News

Industry and world leaders arrived in the English town of Bletchley to participate in the two-day-long artificial intelligence (AI) safety summit. Hosted by Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, the summit aimed at addressing the risks of the rapidly developing technology.

The two-day (November 1-2) meeting was held at Bletchley Park — once the top-secret home of the World War II Codebreakers and the iconic birthplace of modern computing.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen, and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres were among the prominent world leaders to attend the two-day conference. Award-winning computer scientists, cyber security experts, and executives from the world’s leading AI companies, including Elon Musk, also attended the summit.  

World-first AI agreement

During the summit, an AI safety declaration was signed by the leaders and representatives of 28 different countries. Named the Bletchley Declaration, the statement aims to tackle the risks of so-called frontier AI models – the large language models developed by companies such as OpenAI.

According to the UK government, the declaration affirms that whilst safety must be considered across the AI lifecycle, actors developing frontier AI capabilities, in particular those AI systems that are unusually powerful and potentially harmful, have a particularly strong responsibility for ensuring the safety of these AI systems, including through systems for safety testing, through evaluations, and by other appropriate measures.

28 countries & the EU have signed The Bletchley Declaration at the #AISafetySummit agreeing to:

⚠️ identify the key opportunities & risks of AI
🌍 build a global understanding of Frontier AI risks
🔬 collaborate on AI scientific research

Find out more:https://t.co/f6e8ABhoKz pic.twitter.com/SgRA8TjL1q

— Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (@SciTechgovuk) November 1, 2023

The UK’s Secretary of State for Science, Innovation, and Technology Michelle Donelan said the agreement was a “landmark achievement” and that it “lays the foundations for today’s discussions”.

Who said what?

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris hailed the efforts needed to address “the full spectrum” of AI risks and not just “existential” fears about threats of cyber-attacks or the development of bioweapons. “There are additional threats that also demand our action, threats that are currently causing harm and to many people also feel existential,” she said.

The United States stands with our allies and partners in promoting international rules and norms for AI.

We have a moral, ethical, and societal duty to act, and @POTUS and I look forward to continued collaboration. pic.twitter.com/6qsBA2f4rT

— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) November 2, 2023

The U.S. vice president’s participation in the summit came only a day after U.S. President Joe Biden released an executive order regarding AI safety. Biden termed it as the “most significant action ever taken by any government to advance the field of AI safety”.

The order includes requirements to “develop standards, tools, and tests to help ensure that AI systems are safe, secure, and trustworthy,” and to share relevant data about AI models with the U.S. government.

Britain’s King Charles III sent in a video speech that emphasized the importance of AI to the significance comparing it to splitting the atom and harnessing fire. King Charles said AI was “one of the greatest technological leaps in the history of human endeavor” and said it could help “hasten our journey towards net zero and realize a new era of potentially limitless clean green energy”.

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen also echoed concerns about the rapid development of AI technologies as she highlighted the opportunities as well as the risks related to it. “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!” Von der Leyen said during her remarks at the summit.

Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak concluded the summit by conducting an interview with Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, and the micro-blogging website X, formerly known as Twitter.  During his one-on-one session with Sunak in front of more than 300 industry leaders, Musk emphasized the rapidly evolving AI technology. He said that in the future AI would be able to “do everything” and people would decide to have jobs only if they want to for “personal satisfaction”.

China joins the summit 

Despite the ongoing tensions between the West and China, London extended an invitation to Beijing for its participation in the summit, which was accepted. There has been a lot of debate surrounding China’s participation in the global summit related to AI security as Western experts have contrasting opinions about China’s role in AI security.

China’s vice minister of science Wu Zhaohui shared the stage with U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. “We will compete as nationals. But even as we compete vigorously, we must search for global solutions for global problems,” said Raimondo. 

“China is willing to engage in AI governance for the promotion of all mankind. That’s our objective,” Wu Zhaohui told the audience.

The billionaire owner of Tesla, SpaceX and X hailed Rishi Sunak’s decision to invite China to the Bletchley Park summit. “Thank you for inviting them,” Musk said. “Having them here is essential. If they’re not participants, it’s pointless.”

Backlash from tech communities 

Several prominent tech industry leaders have raised their concerns about the “panic” that governments are expressing over the newly developed technologies. Mark Surman, president and executive director of the Mozilla Foundation linked to the browser Firefox, also raised concerns that such summit and governmental control over AI policy would allow private companies to push their interests.

Mozilla published an open letter criticizing the summit and its declaration. The letter was signed by academics, politicians, and employees from private companies, as well as Nobel Peace Prize Maria Ressa.

The British government announced the next AI Safety Summit will be held in South Korea in May 2024 and a third event is planned for France by the end of next year.