The United Kingdom, the United States, the EU, Australia, and China agreed with the opinion that the process of active use of artificial intelligence and its integration into various industries at some point may begin to be realized according to a negative scenario that contains an existential threat to the life of human civilization.
These geopolitical players signed the first international declaration on advanced technology within the framework of the first AI summit, which is currently taking place in the United Kingdom.
The mentioned document was called the Bletchley Declaration. The signatories in this case are 28 Governments. The countries agreed to undertake joint efforts aimed at researching the security of artificial intelligence. At the same time, the United States and the United Kingdom are competing for leadership in developing new rules for regulating machine intelligence.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak welcomed the countries’ joint statement on the existential threat of artificial intelligence, describing it as absolutely incredible. Before his speech at the summit, he noted that nothing will change the future of young generations like technological advances like machine intelligence. The prime minister also stated that the issue of ensuring the safe and responsible development of artificial intelligence is a duty that must be fulfilled.
Michelle Donelan, Minister of Technology of the United Kingdom, commenting on the declaration during a conversation with journalists, noted that for the first time, the countries agreed that it is necessary not only independently, but also collectively to consider the risks associated with frontier AI.
Frontier AI is an advanced digital thinking system that, according to some experts, can surpass the abilities of the human mind in solving many tasks. Elon Musk, during a conversation with journalists on the sidelines of the summit, said that for the first time, humanity was faced with something that would be much smarter than itself. He also noted that there is currently no definitive understanding of the ability to control such artificial intelligence systems.
Some media outlets claim that the joint declaration, in which AI is designated as a potentially catastrophic danger to humanity, is a diplomatic success of the United Kingdom and Rishi Sunak in particular since he is the author of the idea of holding the summit. The British Prime Minister is concerned that advanced technology models are rapidly developing in the absence of control over this process.
Michelle Donelan said during the opening of the summit that the process of improving artificial intelligence systems should not be left to chance. She also noted that this issue should not be neglected or entrusted to private entities to solve it.
Western media drew attention to the fact that in this case, China signed a declaration welcoming the efforts of the international community to cooperate in the sphere of machine intelligence to promote inclusive economic growth, sustainable development, and innovation, protect human rights and fundamental freedoms, strengthen public confidence in advanced technology models to fully realize their potential.
South Korea has agreed to hold another summit on artificial intelligence in six months. Also a year later, a similar event will be held in France.
At the same time, the joint declaration does not negate the fact that there is no consensus in the international arena on what the global set of rules for regulating artificial intelligence should be and who should create it.
Some British officials hoped that during the summit, other countries would agree to strengthen the government task force on AI. At the same time, United States Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo during the event reported on a separate American Institute of Artificial Intelligence security within the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Matt Clifford, one of the British officials in charge of organizing the summit, said that any suggestion that there is currently a misunderstanding between Washington and London about which country should become a global leader in AI regulation is wrong. According to him, Jinna Raimondo’s statement about the partnership she wants to establish between the United Kingdom and the US Security Institute is a confirmation of the deep interaction of states.
At the same time, Rishi Sunak said that the summit proved the desire that UK should take a major role in regulating AI.
Michelle Donelan suggested that the British government will not include a bill on machine intelligence in the king’s speech next week, noting that before making a decision, it will be necessary to understand the problem correctly. She also expressed disagreement with the fact that London lags behind international colleagues in the sphere of artificial intelligence regulation.
As we have reported earlier, UK to Invest in AI Supercomputer.
