(CN) — A race by governments to both regulate and foster the development of artificial intelligence sped up this week as officials and tech leaders convened near London for a major summit on making AI safe for humanity.
The two-day summit in Britain was one of several initiatives being rolled out by the United States, China, the European Union, the United Nations, the Group of Seven and the United Kingdom to establish rules and practices to prevent potentially catastrophic harms posed by AI technologies.
At the summit in Bletchley Park outside London, 28 countries on Wednesday signed a declaration agreeing to the safe and responsible development of AI. The meeting’s location was symbolic because it was where Britain’s World War II cryptographers cracked Nazi Germany’s “Enigma” code using mathematician Alan Turing’s “Turing bombe,” a forerunner of modern computers.
“Many risks arising from AI are inherently international in nature, and so are best addressed through international cooperation,” the pledge said. “We resolve to work together in an inclusive manner to ensure human-centric, trustworthy and responsible AI that is safe.”
The declaration said there was agreement about the “potential for serious, even catastrophic, harm, either deliberate or unintentional, stemming from the most significant capabilities of these AI models.”
It was a rare show of unity between the U.S. and China as the rival superpowers both signed the document, dubbed the “Bletchley Declaration.”
However, the White House and hard-line members inside British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Tory party reportedly opposed inviting a Chinese delegation.
Also signing the declaration were Brazil, France, India, Ireland, Japan, Kenya, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates.
It was called the first global deal to tackle oversight over AI, though the agreement’s significance likely will be limited as the U.S., EU and China push ahead with their own initiatives that are expected to establish legal frameworks AI developers will have to abide by.
“This is 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,” Sunak said in a statement.
On Monday, U.S. President Joe Biden signed a broad executive order on AI ordering government agencies to set rules and standards for AI developers with regard to safety, privacy and fraud.
The order also mandates AI developers to share safety and testing data for the models they are training. The White House said it wants to protect against “chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and cybersecurity risks” posed by AI and ensure the technology doesn’t lead to fraud, discrimination, disinformation, job losses and the stifling of competition.
At a speech Wednesday at the U.S. Embassy in London, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris said it was urgent to deal with not only the future “existential” threats posed by AI but the harm it is causing now, such as discrimination and threats to democratic norms.
“There are additional threats that also demand our action, threats that are currently causing harm and to many people also feel existential,” she said.
Meanwhile, the EU is pushing ahead with what is seen as a pioneering package of AI legislation which the bloc hopes will become a global blueprint for regulating this revolutionary new technology.
The EU legislation also aims to help European businesses catch up in the fervid tech race, which many in the bloc see being dominated by unregulated and unfair practices. Europe has fallen behind the U.S. and China in developing major tech companies.
The bloc hopes to reduce this gap through new digital rules, by harnessing the powers of AI and putting the EU’s large pool of talent and enormous computer capacities to use. In this quest, France is taking a leading role, with French mogul Xavier Niel investing more than $200 million in startup AI companies and holding his own AI summit later this month in Paris.
At the Bletchley summit, Věra Jourová, a top EU official, said there is a “need to strike the right balance between reaping the immense benefits of AI whilst protecting what is most dear to us.”
She said there has been a lot of debate “about whether we should be focusing on the harms of AI that are known today or on more existential risks the technology can pose in the future.”
“I find this a false debate,” she said. “Both are necessary and both are possible.”
She said the “transparency, accountability, risk management and public oversight that we introduce now will also help us deal with more uncertain risks going forward.”
On Monday, the G7, a group that makes up many of the world's richest nations, agreed to an 11-point voluntary “code of conduct” for AI companies called the “Hiroshima AI Process.”
China, too, introduced its own rules governing AI last month. Chinese state media called them a “stark contrast” to the “bullying restrictions” of the U.S.
Wu Zhaohui, China’s vice minister of technology, said at the Bletchley summit that “all countries should build consensus” against the malicious use of AI and adopt measures to ensure the fair use of AI.
“We should ensure AI always remains under human control and build trustworthy AI technologies that can be reviewed, monitored and traced,” the vice minister said.
He said every “country regardless of size or strength has a right to use of AI” and he said that its benefits must be spread to developing countries.
“We call for global collaboration to share AI knowledge and make AI technologies available to the public under open-source terms,” he said. “AI governance is a common task faced by humanity and bears on the future of humanity.”
Last week, the U.N. launched a new advisory body to give the global agency advice on the risks posed by AI. The new group is expected to furnish developing nations a mechanism through which they can add their voice to discussions around AI.
With this week’s summit, Sunak envisions setting up an international AI body similar to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a leading U.N. body advising world leaders on the state of climate issues.
South Korea and France have agreed to hold upcoming AI summits based on the Bletchley Declaration in the next year to push international cooperation further along.
In the run-up to the summit, Sunak also announced the establishment of an AI Safety Institute in Britain to study the potential risks posed by AI. This week, the U.S. said it would set up a similar institute.
Courthouse News reporter Cain Burdeau is based in the European Union.
Follow @cainburdeau
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