A meeting at Bletchley Park in the UK on the future of artificial intelligence kicked off with an agreement among 28 countries on the need for global action
By Chris Stokel-Walker
1 November 2023
Bletchley Park, the venue for the AI Safety Summit
Leon Neal/Getty Images
This week, UK prime minister Rishi Sunak is hosting a group of 100 representatives from the worlds of business and politics to discuss the potential and pitfalls of artificial intelligence.
The AI Safety Summit, held at Bletchley Park, UK, begins on 1 November and aims to come up with a set of global principles with which to develop and deploy “frontier AI models” – the terminology favoured by Sunak and key figures in the AI industry for powerful models that don’t yet exist, but may be built very soon.
While the Bletchley Park event is the focal point, there is a wider week of fringe events being held in the UK, alongside a raft of UK government announcements on AI. Here are the latest developments.
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Bletchley Declaration
The summit got off to a bang with the announcement that 28 countries and the European Union have agreed a declaration saying global action is needed to tamp down the risks of AI. The Bletchley Declaration included an agreement that substantial risks may arise from potential intentional misuse or unintended issues of control of frontier AI, with particular concern caused by cybersecurity, biotechnology and disinformation risks, according to the UK government, which oversaw the international consensus.
One of the clauses within the declaration includes provisions for South Korea to host a mini-summit in the next six months, with France hosting an in-person summit next year. “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.
The prime minister was keen to tout this as a British achievement. “The UK is once again leading the world at the forefront of this new technological frontier by kickstarting this conversation, which will see us work together to make AI safe and realise all its benefits for generations to come,” he said.