Global representatives gather for Rishi Sunak’s Artificial Intelligence safety summit

Representatives from the USA, France, Japan and China will attend the summit, though world leaders like President Biden will not make an appearance
David Lynch|Michael Howie1 November 2023
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

Representatives of countries from across the world are set to attend Rishi Sunak’s summit aimed at laying the groundwork for the safe use of artificial intelligence (AI).

The AI safety summit will take place on Wednesday and Thursday, with representatives from the USA, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Singapore and China confirmed as attending.

Neither US President Joe Biden nor French President Emmanuel Macron will be at the summit, but Downing Street has denied the gathering is being snubbed by world leaders.

Vice President Kamala Harris will represent the USA at the summit in place of Mr Biden, and EU commission chief Ursula von der Leyen will speak on behalf of the bloc.

Ms Harris touched down at Stansted Airport on Tuesday evening with her husband Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff for the summit.

Elon Musk, the Tesla CEO and owner of the social media site X, will also attend and join the Prime Minister for a live interview after the summit closes on Thursday.

Mr Musk, a co-founder of OpenAI – the company behind the popular ChatGPT tool – has previously expressed concerns about the possibility of AI becoming hostile towards humans.

The summit was originally billed by Mr Sunak as a chance for the UK to lead the world in establishing agreement on the safe use of AI technology, after he set out his ambition for the UK to become the “geographical home of global AI safety regulation” in the summer.

Bletchley Park, near Milton Keynes, was once the top-secret home of Second World War codebreakers (Will Amlot/Bletchley Park Trust/PA)
PA Media

Conflict in the Middle East has since fixed the attention of world leaders, and in the US, President Biden has signed an executive order to “ensure that America leads the way in seizing the promise and managing the risks of artificial intelligence”.

But the UK Government has insisted the summit has merit, with a guest list including pioneering AI companies like UK-based Deep Mind, as well as OpenAI, and Anthropic.

Michelle Donelan, the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, said: “AI is already an extraordinary force for good in our society, with limitless opportunity to grow the global economy, deliver better public services and tackle some of the world’s biggest challenges.

“But the risks posed by frontier AI are serious and substantive and it is critical that we work together, both across sectors and countries to recognise these risks.

“This summit provides an opportunity for us to ensure we have the right people with the right expertise gathered around the table to discuss how we can mitigate these risks moving forward.

“Only then will we be able to truly reap the benefits of this transformative technology in a responsible manner.”

Roundtable discussions on frontier AI safety will take place on the first day of the gathering at Bletchley Park, near Milton Keynes, which was home to the UK’s Second World War codebreakers.

Alongside tech companies, civil society groups and experts from the Alan Turing Institute, and the Ada Lovelace Institute will be present.

The second day of the summit will focus on the responsible use of AI technology.

As the conference begins, the UK Government has meanwhile pledged £38 million towards funding artificial intelligence projects around the world, starting in Africa.

The commitment is part of an £80 million collaboration between Britain, Canada and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to boost “safe and responsible” programming, the Foreign Office said.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in