Britain To Host The World's First Global Artificial Intelligence Safety Meeting

JAKARTA - This week, Britain will host the world's first global artificial intelligence safety (AI) meeting to explore the risks of this fast-growing technology and start an international dialogue on regulation in the field. The meeting will take place at Bletchley Park - a place where UK codemakers at World War II worked - in southern England on November 1-2.

These are some important things from the meeting:

WHO WILL BE PRESENT?

Organizers told the media that there would be around 100 guests, including world leaders, executives of technology companies, academics, and non-profit organizations. The complete list of guests has not been publicly announced.

Several world leaders - including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau - will not attend, but United States Vice President Kamala Harris, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Chinese deputy technology minister Wu Zhaohui, and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will attend.

China's existence is another sign of improving relations with Britain, after top diplomat James Cleanly visited Beijing in August during a first visit by Britain's foreign secretary in five years.

Executives of world-famous AI companies - including Google Deepmind CEO Demis Hassabis and Sam Altman, founder of OpenAI creators of ChatGPT backed by Microsoft, will also attend. Representatives from Alibaba and Tencent will also attend. Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk will join the event.

Academics and non-profit organizations, which have warned of the risk of the emergence of AI, will also play an important role, represented by "men" AI such as Stuart Russell and Geoffrey Hinton, along with the Alan Turing Institute and the Institute of the Future of Life.

WHAT WILL BE DISCUSSED?

The purpose of this meeting is to initiate global conversations about AI's future regulations.

There are currently no global regulations focused on AI safety at large, although some governments have started drafting their own rules. For example, the European Union has written the first series of laws governing its use in the bloc.

According to the agenda of the meeting, there will be a series of group discussions about the threats posed by future technological developments.

Topics include how AI systems can be armed by hackers, or used by terrorists to build biological weapons, as well as the potential for these technologies to gain awareness and cause damage in the world.

Experts and regulators appear to be divided into ways to prioritize these threats, with the long-awaited AI Act by the European Union prioritizing potential abuses to human rights - such as data privacy and protection from surveillance - compared to the existential risk that dominates most meeting agendas.

WHY IN THE UK?

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak wants Britain to become a global leader in AI safety, understanding the role after Brexit among competing economic blocs from the United States, China, and the European Union.

The event comes nearly a year after OpenAI released an AI-powered ChatGPT to the public, sparking international debate about this rapidly growing technology potential, with some experts comparing it to climate change or nuclear weapons.

WHAT WILL BE REACHED?

When the meeting ends on Thursday, it is estimated that Sunak will deliver a speech outlining the participants' agreement, before joining Musk for a live discussion to be broadcast on X.

The latest report from the Financial Times states that Sunak plans to launch a global advisory board for AI regulation, which was formed based on the Inter-Government Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

When Sunak announced a meeting in June, some have questioned how ready Britain is to lead global initiatives in AI regulations.

Since then, US President Joe Biden has issued an executive order regulating the use of AI across countries, the European Union is closing in on their own AI Act approval, and the G7 approved their own code of ethics for companies using the technology.

Last week, the United Nations announced that it had formed its own AI advisory board - which consists of some experts from industry, research, and various governments.

But the defense say that Britain has a role to play as an intermediary between the three major world powers blocs - the US, the European Union, and China - and hopes that this meeting will set up a basis for future international dialogue on issues.