(Washington) The UK will host the world’s first dedicated artificial intelligence (AI) summit later this year, with the aim of achieving a holistic approach to mitigating technology-related risks, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced Wednesday in Washington.
“AI has incredible potential to transform our lives for the better. But we have to make sure it is developed and used safely,” Sunak said on the sidelines of a visit to the White House, where he is to meet US President Joe Biden.
“We have continually created, throughout history, revolutionary new technologies that we have used for the good of mankind. This is what we need to realize again,” he added.
The summit should be held next fall and bring together “countries with a similar approach” to lay the groundwork for regulation, a spokesman for the British leader said.
However, the idea of the summit is not intended to thwart the exploitation of AI that authoritarian states, such as China or Russia, could make of it, said the same source.
However, it responds to the British desire to eventually host the headquarters of a potential global regulator of AI, a desire that could however be undermined, while the European Union and the United States have already and already started to discuss on the subject.
Rishi Sunak assured that the United Kingdom was not in danger of finding itself excluded.
“I think we have to have faith in our country’s ability to be a leader when it comes to AI because that’s what the facts point to,” he told the BBC.
“If you look at the number of companies, the amounts invested, the quality of our research, no one is on par among other democratic countries, outside of the United States,” Mr. Sunak insisted.
The British Prime Minister also assured that President Biden, although almost twice his age (80 against 43 for Mr. Sunak) was not overwhelmed with this technology.
“Yes, we discussed artificial intelligence when we were together in Japan (for the G7 Summit, editor’s note) and I know he is fully aware of the risks and opportunities involved,” Rishi Sunak told antenna of the British channel TalkTV, before his meeting with the American president.
“But I also know that the president has in mind the threats that our countries will face in the future and wants to make sure that we work together to protect them,” he insisted, implicitly underlining American support for this proposal. of summit.
