Seoul AI Safety Summit: What Can We Expect?

By Fay Capstick

Next week, on 21 and 22nd May there will be an AI Safety Summit being held in Seoul. So, this week we shall be focusing on what this means and what we can expect.

Didn’t we just have an AI Safety Summit?

Yes, we did. It was November last year and was held at Bletchley Park. This Summit was a big deal. It was an important step towards discussing how we, as humans, can handle the emergence of AI in all areas of our lives, including the potential emergence of AGI.

So, what can you tell me about this new summit?

The Seoul Summit was announced last year at Bletchley Park. Its goal will be to build upon the legacy of the Bletchley Summit.

Yes, but why are we having another one so soon?

Because AI Safety and the coming AI revolution are arguably the most important issues that we face as a society (alongside the climate emergency).

The need to shape the direction that society takes with AI is urgent and immediate, and it will require regular summits to check on how progress is being made and to encourage that progress to be quick and ethical.

Where are we at now?

AI has already helped to make breakthroughs in healthcare and drug discovery. We believe that this is only the tip of the iceberg in relation to what AI will be able to offer us.

What will happen at this Summit?

This Summit will ‘address capabilities of frontier AI models and further commitments from developers on AI safety.’ (Forgotten what frontier AI is? It’s the AI based on being trained on Large Language Models, like GPT-4 from OpenAI).

Further, the Summit will look at how the benefits of AI technology can be shared equally, as well as promoting innovation and inclusively.

Why is this important?

Sharing equally the benefits of AI across all countries and populations is very important. This is because the AI Revolution has the potential to bring huge benefits to society, and it would be unethical for those benefits not to be shared equally. AI has the potential to level the World's playing field.

The timing is particularly important, as we expect the release of increasingly powerful AI during the remainder of 2024.

Who will be there?

On Day 1 there will be a virtual leaders summit. This will be co-chaired by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and the President of the Republic of Korea (the host country). Industry leaders will be updating everyone on how they are managing to fulfil the commitments that were agreed upon at the November Bletchley Summit.

On Day 2 there will be a meeting of Digital Ministers. This will be an in-person event, and is again co-chaired by the UK (our Technology Secretary, Michelle Donelan) and her Korean equivalent.

South Korea see the event as an opportunity to ‘strengthen global cooperation.’

This summit will also see the release of the International Scientific Report on Advanced AI Safety.

Anything else happened?

The AI Safety Institute was established as a result of Bletchley. This is a UK government-backed institute dedicated to AI Safety. The Institute has made progress since November. It has expanded its researchers, and has published a ‘detailed approach to model safety evaluations.’ The AI Safety Institute will be working with the US on AI safety.

Will there be another?

Yes indeed. It is planned to be held in France within the next 12 months.

What do we think?

We think that getting AI right as we develop it is critical for safety worldwide. AI rollout and impact is not something that can be divided by Country, Government, or regime. It is something that requires everyone to work together with transparency or the effects could be catastrophic. We hope that this is happening with the precident set here and the work carried out as a result of these summits. We are looking forward to seeing what progress will be announced next week and what comes next.

Final thoughts

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