Rishi Sunak calls for joint global stand on AI safety

PM Sunak calls for global statement on AI safety, releases papers on risks. Summit in Bletchley Park next week to discuss risks, benefits of AI. Summit to set up AI Safety Institute, global panel of experts to publish 'State of AI Science' report. G7, China, EU to be represented; VP Harris to attend for U.S.

Projecting Britain as a global leader in Artificial Intelligence (AI), Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called for a joint global statement on AI safety. His speech coincided with the release of papers on the risks of AI produced by the U.K.’s intelligence agencies ahead of an international ‘AI Safety Summit’ in Bletchley Park next week.

Speaking at the Royal Society on Thursday, Mr. Sunak outlined some of the reports’ findings, including the possibility that AI could be used to build chemical and biological weapons - and an “unlikely but extreme” scenario in which human beings could ‘completely’ lose control over AI.

However, Mr. Sunak said he did not want to be alarmist and was quick to add that the U.K. was not “in a rush to regulate” the technology.

While he spoke at length about the benefits of AI, Mr. Sunak also said the world had no shared understanding of its risks.

“That’s why we will push hard to agree on the first ever international statement about the nature of these risks,” he said, adding that this should be inspired by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Mr. Sunak, who plans to ask governments attending the November 1-2 summit to establish a global panel of experts to publish a ‘State of AI Science’ report, also announced the setting up of an AI Safety Institute, which would work with companies and others to ensure AI systems were safe before they were rolled out.