Profoundly put in the inaugural Global AI Safety Summit promotional video, “The world has built so many things but AI has the capacity to become the biggest invention yet.” With the 2-day Global AI safety Summit coming to an end yesterday, still the greatest fear among the world leaders, AI companies, inventors and the entire humanity is that, AI might become sentient. Howbeit it happens, what next? is the big elephant in the room. Or should we say we’ll cross the bridge when we get there? No. the entire humanity and planet earth as we so know it will be put in jeopardy.
The purpose of the Summit as highlighted by DW networks, is to “find a common way of dealing with the challenges and risks posed by Artificial Intelligence”. To be clear, they aren’t looking to stop AI, but to deal with ‘what next’ after rolling it out to the hilt. The main objectives of the summit were; to agree on the risks of AI and to inform how we can manage them, international collaboration on frontier AI safety, appropriate measures which individual organizations should take to increase frontier AI safety, the safety of AI on the global-good use and of course, global priorities of AI in the next 5 years.
Resounding world leaders weighed in their thoughts on AI safety in the global stage. Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak said,” I truly believe there’s
nothing in our foreseeable future that will be more transformative for our economy, our societies and all our lives with the development of technologies like Artificial Intelligence. But as every wave of new technologies, it also brings new threats and dangers….” During the interview with the prime minister of United Kingdom, the current richest human walking on this planet, Elon Musk called it, ‘The most attractive force in history’ and continued to say that AI will become smarter than the smartest human and that it will reach a point where no jobs are needed-if such happens, what will become of humans? another thorny question we’ll need to answer.
If Artificial Intelligence (AI) becomes smarter than the smartest human on earth, will there be a need for human-AI collaboration?
To try curb – and we use the word ‘try’ because it is not certain – the potential risk posed by AI and possible manage the smartest technology ever created, the main highlight of the summit was the signing of the first ever AI Safety agreement, called the Bletchley Declaration, which saw 28 governments including the US, China, and EU agree to work together on AI safety. Part of the agreement reads;
In recognition of the transformative positive potential of AI, and as part of ensuring wider international cooperation on AI, we resolve to sustain an inclusive global dialogue that engages existing international fora and other relevant initiatives and contributes in an open manner to broader international discussions, and to continue research on frontier AI safety to ensure that the benefits of the technology can be harnessed responsibly for good and for all. We look forward to meeting again in 2024.
The agreement signed doesn’t put clear legislation in place on how to deal with risks but is a promise to keep talking and finding solutions together.
While other governments are playing a waiting game in setting firm regulations around AI in these early stages, the case of United States is different, they are not taking any chances in tackling the immediate risks presented by AI, such as bias, discrimination, and misinformation. Earlier this week, President Joe Bidden Signed an executive order, the US AI Bill of Rights. The executive order states clear rules and oversight measures to ensure artificial intelligence is kept in check, whilst also providing paths for its growth. It has a comprehensive series of standards, safety and privacy protections, and oversight measures for the development and use of artificial intelligence (AI).
At eminence Global, we’ve been extensively and consistently researching, analyzing and still continue to learn the risks posed by AI as a corporate communications company, But the existential threats being discussed on global stage, including AI’s possible ability to develop biological and chemical weapons, undermine democracy and threaten the financial system are still a shocker— threats that even government officials had to admit were worst-case or highly unlikely scenarios.
Is the entire humanity in danger?
“There is even the risk that humanity could lose control of AI completely. Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority.” – Prime Minister Rishi Sunak
With 84% of world population being skeptical on AI safety, some leaders shared how they are trying to maintain optimism in this inevitable AI age. Former Potus, Barrack Obama shared a list of some of the books, articles, and podcasts that have helped shape his perspective of Artificial Intelligence. His list offers a range of viewpoints on the threats, opportunities, and challenges posed by AI and some thoughtful ideas on how to respond. Through his foundation, The Obama Foundation, he also held a Democracy Forum that delved deeper on the challenges and opportunities that comes with AI unto the changing ways we consume information online.
AI practitioners are now tasked with the heavy lifting of filling in the intricate details. It requires developers to create standards, tools, and tests to help ensure that AI systems are safe and share the results of those tests with the public.
How do we get it right? I mean on Wednesday this week, a follower on our Instagram page insinuated that one of our State Banquet pictures in honor of King Charles III, was Ai generated, yet the picture was actually real. In an AI era where distinguishing a real piece of information or image from AI generated content is extremely difficult, how do we filter fake from real? How do we stay clear from misinformation and disinformation?
During the Signing of the US AI Safety Bill, The US Vice President, Kamala Harris said, “When people around the world cannot discern fact from fiction because of a flood of AI-enabled mis- and disinformation… is that not existential for democracy? To define AI safety, I offer that we must consider and address the full spectrum of AI risk — threats to humanity as a whole, as well as threats to individuals, communities, to our institutions, and to our most vulnerable populations.”
The threats and risks of AI to humanity are tangible and can be deeply felt at this early stages, but so is its potential to transform the world as we so know it and humanity for the greater good forever. But we must be very conscious of every single step we take in this journey together.
As the Global AI Safety Summit came to an end at Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire, it is clear that the future of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is undoubtedly promising. The opportunities are transformational – like advancing drug discovery, making transport safer and cleaner, improving public services, efficiency in manufacturing systems, speeding up and improving diagnosis and treatment of diseases like cancer and much more.
To seize these opportunities however, we must grip the risks, not just here but globally, mostly so, because “The dynamic nature of AI means it can be hard to predict the risks. Different variables are concerning – how the AI is designed, the uses to which it is put, the data on which it is trained – can interact in ways that are near impossible to predict. Governments, academics, companies and civil society groups need to work together to understand these risks, and possible remedies.”
AI Safety Summit Achievements
- Successfully built a global consensus; Signing of the Bletchley declaration in which they agreed on a shared understanding of the risks posed by frontier AI.
- They commissioned a panel of global experts, chaired by the ‘godfather of AI’ Yoshua Bengio, to write a State of AI Science report that will help the world to stay ahead of the curve.
- Leading companies agreed to work with governments to test the safety of new AI models for the first time ever. This through establishment of world-leading AI Safety Institutes with the most respected AI experts.
- There will be a yearly summit on the same with Korea and France set to host the next summits to see through all the collaboration that begun this week in the UK
From Eminence Global desk; We understand that the AI seismic shift has caused the business operating environment as we so knew it to change & will continue to change as AI evolves & grows. The future of AI is inevitable; we are here to help you sail through it. Our Advisory Team is designed to help you mitigate risk, build reputation & accelerate growth by providing you with AI intelligence and wide-view effective communication strategy necessary to navigate this new business operating environment with its complex typologies;
Business Environment Typologies Advisory areas;
• Failing/Absent Market – Advisory on Reinvent & Restart of Businesses
• Restarted Market – Refresh or Re-launch advisory
• Evolved Market – Resume and Adopt advisory
• Accelerated Market – Advisory on how to accelerate and evolve your business with the changing business environment
in Conclusion, we have to hold on to the hope, that AI will be used for the greater good of humanity and the planet in its entirety. And also give you a classical assurance that, no matter what, we’ll EMBRACE THE GOOD and FACE THE THREATS that comes with AI TOGETHER AS ONE.
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