The #Bletchley Park summit in the #UK marked a significant step forward in #AI #regulation, with a

1 year ago
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The #Bletchley Park summit in the #UK marked a significant step forward in #AI #regulation, with an explicit consensus to take on an international shared responsibility. There are plans for further meetings in South Korea and France over the next year to continue the conversation surrounding risks posed by AI. However, critics have said that the focus on the more hypothetical aspects of existential threats as opposed to the more current, pressing problems – such as #insurance #companies using AI to determine your risk or AI’s potential to take #people’s jobs – #dilutes the impact of the summit.

The big #breakthrough was the creation of an #agreed #framework around the nature of the #risks of #AI. This is a first, but “all very high level at the moment”, says Dan. “There is not much granular detail.” Bringing the US and China together to sign this declaration is a diplomatic coup for Sunak, as it is the first time that China has met with western governments to discuss the issue. The government argued that China is a key player in the development of AI and that it should be at the table for the discussion to be truly global.

US @VP @KamalaHarris stole some of Sunak’s #thunder, as she arrived with a freshly minted @WhiteHouse #executiveorder on #AI that laid out actionable plans that the US government would be taking, including setting up its own institute that would police artificial intelligence. With all the noise and bluster of the summit, Sunak did not have plans with anywhere near as much detail to match. Though he insisted that he welcomed Harris’s intervention, it made it clear that the UK was not setting the agenda.

@ElonMusk and #Sunak had a consequential meeting that gave the prime minister’s event a further level of importance. The pair traded compliments, with some commentators noting that it seemed like Sunak was angling for Musk’s approval.

Before the #AI summit, Elon Musk, co-founder of OpenAI, expressed his desire for a third-party referee to oversee the development of artificial intelligence. In a conversation with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at Lancaster House, Musk reiterated this point, highlighting the potential benefits of AI while issuing warnings about "humanoid robots" and predicting that there would be no jobs as AI would have taken them all. Despite some of his bleakest predictions, Musk also believed AI to be a force for good.

Government oversight has become stronger due to the summit, with Sunak insisting on ensuring safety issues are #dealt with in a way that avoids #hampering #innovation in the #techsector. He stressed that #AI has the capacity to improve people's lives in healthcare, education, and the economy but later added that it could also wreak havoc on the same level as a pandemic or nuclear war.

The real change in regulation and oversight is expected to come in the following months, with Dan closely monitoring how much the government is willing to go to look under the hood of AI products funded by private companies. He believes that only governments can properly assess the risks to national security that AI poses and that nation states have the power and legitimacy to keep their people safe.

Sunak said that only governments can properly assess the #risks to #nationalsecurity that #AI poses, and only nation states have the power and legitimacy to keep their people safe. However, he added that we should not rush to regulation without fully understanding the risks. The prime minister wants tech companies to invest and develop their products in the UK, with the hope of economic benefits. How he plans to balance the goals of regulation and innovation remains unclear.

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