Major powers sign the first announcement on the risks of artificial intelligence

China, the United States, the European Union, and around 20 other countries in the UK signed the Blechley Declaration for the development of "safe" artificial intelligence (AI) during the first international summit on "AI Security and Safety," which discussed the rapid advancement of this technology.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak welcomed this declaration on the "X" network (formerly Twitter), stating that "this historic declaration marks the beginning of a new global effort to build public confidence in AI by ensuring its safety."

The European Union and 28 countries, represented at Bletchley Park in North London, agreed on the "urgent need to understand and collectively manage potential risks" associated with AI. They established a new global effort to ensure the development and responsible deployment of AI.

In the face of the increasing potential of software like "GPT," the Blechley Declaration "demonstrates that, for the first time, the world has come together to identify the problems and opportunities associated with AI," as confirmed by UK Technology Minister Michelle Donelan to Agence France-Presse.

Minister Donelan explained that this meeting, which began on Wednesday and concludes on Thursday, is not intended to lay the foundations for global legislation but should work to chart a path forward in this field.

She added that from this highly symbolic location, which once housed the code-breaking center during World War II, this summit will be followed by two international summits on artificial intelligence: the first in South Korea within six months and the second in France within a year.

Throughout the two-day summit, political leaders, AI experts, and technology giants have gathered under the UK's initiative, aiming to take the lead in global collaboration in this technology.

At the same time, US Vice President Kamala Harris is expected to announce the establishment of an AI Security Institute in Washington in her speech in London. This institute, similar to the one announced by the UK, will bring together experts and officials to develop "guiding principles" and evaluate advanced AI models to "identify and mitigate risks," according to the White House.

Generative AI, capable of producing text, voices, or images on demand within seconds, has made remarkable progress in recent years, and the new generations of these models are expected to emerge in the coming months.

The UK government warned in a report published last Thursday that this technology, which raises high hopes in fields like medicine and education, could also pose an "existential threat" by disrupting the stability of societies through the manufacture of weapons or escaping human control.

The presence of politicians on the second day

The second day of the summit is expected to see the attendance of high-level political representatives at Bletchley Park. Among them are Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission, Antonio Guterres, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Giorgia Meloni, the Prime Minister of Italy, who is the only G7 leader attending the summit.

The British government hopes to reach, at the very least, the first international declaration regarding the nature of artificial intelligence risks. It also proposes creating a group of experts in the field of artificial intelligence based on the model of the international body responsible for monitoring climate issues.

Billionaire Elon Musk, the CEO of "X Network," held talks with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak following the summit. Musk emphasized the need for "governance" in the field of artificial intelligence, stating that this technology poses one of the "greatest threats" to humanity.

Musk stated during his participation in the summit, "What we aim for is to create a framework for better understanding, such that there is at least independent governance that can monitor what artificial intelligence companies are doing and sound the alarm if they have concerns." He added, "I hope that this summit results in international consensus on the preliminary understanding of advanced artificial intelligence."

In an open letter published on the first Tuesday, many of those considered "the founding fathers" of this technology, such as Joshua Bengio and Geoffrey Hinton, called for "the development and ratification of an international treaty on artificial intelligence" to limit the risks and "potential catastrophic consequences" that these systems impose on humanity.

The challenge that countries face in dealing with artificial intelligence lies in their ability to ensure the functioning of artificial intelligence in line with global standards without hindering or restricting innovation for artificial intelligence laboratories, which is, in other words, regulating the operation of this technology. This is what the European Union and the United States have chosen to do.

Last week, several companies such as "OpenAI," "Meta" - the owner of Facebook and Instagram - and "Google" - the owner of DeepMind - agreed to announce some of their own security rules for artificial intelligence at the request of the United Kingdom.

In an open letter addressed to Rishi Sunak, around 100 international organizations, experts, and activists expressed their dissatisfaction with the closed nature of this summit, with a dominant presence of technology giants and limited participation from civil society.