BY AFP

The United States, China, the EU and about two dozen other countries signed the Bletchley Declaration for the “safe” development of artificial intelligence (AI) on Wednesday in the UK.at the first international summit on the rise of this technology.

“This historic declaration marks the beginning of a new global effort to increase public trust public in AIensuring it is safe,” said British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on X (ex Twitter).

The document, also signed by Brazil and Chile, highlights the “urgent need to collectively understand and manage the potential risks” of AI.

Given the growing potential of models like ChatGPT, Bletchley’s statement “shows that, for the first time, the world is coming together to identify the problems and highlight the opportunities,” British Technology Minister Michelle Donelan told AFP.

The meeting “is not intended to lay the foundation for global legislation, but should serve to chart a path forward,” he said.

In parallel with the meeting, US Vice President Kamala Harris should announce in her speech in London the creation of an artificial intelligence security agency in Washington.

This structure – similar to one also announced by the UK – will bring together experts to set “directions” and evaluate the most advanced AI models to “identify and mitigate” risks, according to the White House.

Generative AI – capable of generating text, sound or images in seconds – has made rapid progress in recent years and the next generation of this model will appear in the summer.

They have great hopes in the fields of medicine and education, but they can also destabilize society, allowing the manufacture of weapons or circumventing human control, the British government has warned.

– Behind closed doors –

After a first day dedicated to the potential dangers of more advanced AI, high-level political representatives are expected to attend Bletchley Park on Thursday.

Among them, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, and Italian Head of Government Giorgia Meloni.

American billionaire and star entrepreneur Elon Musk, who was present at the summit on Wednesday, will exchange views with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Thursday evening.

“Our goal is to build a framework for better understanding (…), and for there to be at least one independent arbitrator who can look at what AI companies are doing and provide warnings if there is something that concerns them,” Musk told the press. .

“My hope at this summit is that there will be an international consensus regarding the initial understanding of advanced AI,” he added.

In an open letter published on Tuesday, some of the technology’s “founding fathers,” such as Yoshua Bengio and Geoffrey Hinton, advocated “the development and ratification of an international treaty on AI,” to reduce the “potentially catastrophic” risks that advanced systems impose on humanity. .

The challenge is to build protections without stifling innovation for AI labs and tech giants.

The EU and the United States, unlike the UK, chose the regulatory route.

Last week, several companies such as OpenAI, Meta (Facebook) or DeepMind (Google) agreed to publish some of their AI security policies at the request of the UK.

In an open letter addressed to Rishi Sunak, one hundred international organizations, experts and activists regretted that the summit was being held “closed”, dominated by technology giants and limited access for civil society.