India along with countries like the United Kingdom, United States, Australia and China have agreed to work together to manage the risk that artificial intelligence (AI) poses at a summit in London, on Wednesday (Nov 1) aimed at creating a safe way forward for the rapidly evolving technology.
India was among the 28 other countries that signed the so-called Bletchley Declaration on the first day of the AI Safety Summit hosted by the UK government, through which the countries have agreed to work together on AI safety research.
"We affirm that, whilst safety must be considered across the AI lifecycle, actors developing frontier AI capabilities, in particular those AI systems which 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," read a part of the declaration.
First international declaration
The summit is seen as the first Western effort to manage AI’s safe development after tech executives and lawmakers have raised the alarm over the rapid development of the technology which poses an existential threat to the world if not regulated.
The concerns have sparked a race among nations to come up with plans to regulate AI. China’s vice minister, on Wednesday, joined the US and European leaders and tech bosses such as Elon Musk and ChatGPT’s Sam Altman at the summit in London. Beijing is seen as a key participant at the summit given the country’s role in developing AI.
UK Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, welcomed the declaration, calling it “quite incredible”. Ahead of his appearance at the summit, on Thursday (Nov 2), Sunak also said that nothing will be more “transformative” to future generations than technological advances like AI.
However, we “owe it to them to ensure AI develops in a safe and responsible way, gripping the risks it poses early enough in the process,” he added.
The communique marks a diplomatic success for the UK, and particularly Sunak given that the summit is his brainchild and took place after he expressed concern over AI models rapidly advancing with no oversight.
“For the first time, we now have countries agreeing that we need to look not just independently but collectively at the risk around frontier AI,” British digital minister Michelle Donelan told reporters.
She noted that it was an achievement just to get so many key players in one room. Donelan opened the summit by saying that the development of AI “can’t be left to chance or neglect or to private actors alone”.
She also announced two further AI Safety Summits, one to be held in South Korea in six months and France will host it next year.
Questions raised over China’s participation
Ahead of the summit, several British lawmakers reportedly raised questions about China’s participation given the low level of trust between Beijing and Washington as well as several European nations, particularly in the context of Chinese involvement in technology.