UK hosts world’s first AI safety summit, calls for global tie-ups to address risks; Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar to represent India

New Delhi [India], November 1 (ANI): As the United Kingdom hosts the world’s first global Artificial Intelligence (AI) Safety Summit, British Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan has called for international collaboration to mitigate risks of the fast-growing technology.

Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar is representing India at the two-day summit starting November 1 at Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire in southern England, a significant location in the history of computer science development- the base for World War II code-breaking operations.

The Minister of State for Electronics and Technology had earlier posted on X: “Look forward to discussing ways in which Artificial Intelligence can be harnessed to transform lives of citizens, catalyze DigitalEconomy while ensuring SafetyTrust of DigitalNagriks.”The summit will see a convergence of governments, academia and companies working in artificial intelligence to debate and identify risks, opportunities and the “need for international collaboration, before highlighting consensus on the scale, importance and urgency for AI opportunities” a statement by the British High Commission read.

The US, France, Singapore, Italy, Japan and China among nations have confirmed their attendance at the Bletchley Park Summit, British officials said.

Tech mogul Elon Musk is among the high-profile attendees at the summit. UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had posted on X that he will be doing a live interview with tech billionaire Elon Musk at the Summit.

According to UK local media reports, Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, US Vice President Kamala Harris and Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni are others who are expected to attend.

UK Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan will open the event setting out the UK government’s vision for safety and security to be at the heart of advances in AI, in order to enable the enormous opportunities it will bring.

“She will look to make progress on the talks which will pave the way for a safer world by identifying risks, opportunities and the need for international collaboration, before highlighting consensus on the scale, importance and urgency for AI opportunities and the necessity for mitigating frontier AI risks to unlock them,” a statement read.

A small, select group comprising of Artificial Intelligence companies, civil society and independent experts will meet today in the first of the two-day focussed summit, in order to harness the public benefits, whilst mitigating the risks that AI technology could pose.

The summit aims to put light on the transformative benefits that AI technology can offer, putting a predominant focus on “education and areas for international research collaborations”.

Representatives from The Alan Turing Institute, The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the Ada Lovelace Institute are also among the groups confirmed to attend.

Prime Minister Sunak had last week stated that the summit will focus on understanding the risks such as potential threats to national security including the dangers a loss of control of the technology could bring.

On the agenda are discussions around issues likely to impact society, such as election disruption and erosion of social trust.

According to government estimates, the UK already employs over 50,000 people in the AI sector and contributes 3.7 billion pounds to its economy annually.

Michelle Donelan will be joined by members of the UK’s Frontier AI Taskforce – including its Chair, Ian Hogarth. The task force was launched earlier this year with an aim to evaluate the risks of frontier AI models (generative language models of AI).

Meanwhile, on the first day of the Summit, Union Minister of State Rajeev Chandrasekhar is set to participate in discussions related to “Frontier AI risks,” with a specific focus on “Risks to Global Safety from Frontier AI Misuse.” These discussions will delve into safety risks associated with recent and next-generation frontier AI models, including their implications for biosecurity and cybersecurity.

On the second day of the summit, Chandrasekhar will contribute to discussions regarding the establishment of a collaborative framework for AI among like-minded nations. He will shed light on India’s perspective concerning AI risks in areas such as disinformation and electoral security. (ANI)