Twenty-eight governments including India signed the “Bletchley declaration” on the first day of the artificial intelligence (AI) safety summit in London, hosted by the British government.
Key points
- The countries agreed to work together on AI safety research, even amid signs that the US and UK are competing to take the lead over developing new regulations.
- Bletchley Park near London was once the top-secret base of the codebreakers who cracked the German ‘Enigma Code’ that hastened the end of World War II. This symbolism was evidently a reason why it was chosen to host the world’s first ever Artificial Intelligence (AI) Safety Summit.
Frontier AI
- For the first time countries agreed to look not just independently but collectively at the risks around frontier AI.
- “Frontier AI” is defined as highly capable foundation generative AI models that could possess dangerous capabilities that can pose severe risks to public safety.
- The declaration incorporates an acknowledgment of the substantial risks from potential intentional misuse or unintended issues of control of frontier AI — especially cybersecurity, biotechnology, and disinformation risks.
- The declaration noted the “potential for serious, even catastrophic, harm, either deliberate or unintentional, stemming from the most significant capabilities of these AI models”, as well as risks beyond frontier AI, including those of bias and privacy.
