The Biden administration plans to convene a global safety summit on artificial intelligence, it said on Wednesday, as Congress continues to struggle with regulating the technology.
TakeAway Points:
- As Congress continues to battle over artificial intelligence regulation, the Biden administration said that it intended to hold a global safety summit on the subject.
- Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will host on Nov. 20-21 the first meeting of the International Network of AI Safety Institutes in San Francisco to “advance global cooperation toward the safe, secure, and trustworthy development of artificial intelligence.”
- The goal of the San Francisco meeting is to jumpstart technical collaboration before the AI Action Summit in Paris in February.
Global AI safety summit
While Congress continues to battle with regulating the technology, the Biden administration said on Wednesday that it aims to hold a global safety summit on artificial intelligence.
According to the report, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will host on Nov. 20-21 the first meeting of the International Network of AI Safety Institutes in San Francisco to “advance global cooperation toward the safe, secure, and trustworthy development of artificial intelligence.”
The network members include Australia, Canada, the European Union, France, Japan, Kenya, South Korea, Singapore, Britain, and the United States.
Generative AI, which can create text, photos, and videos in response to open-ended prompts, has spurred excitement as well as fears it could make some jobs obsolete, upend elections, and potentially overpower humans and have catastrophic effects.
Essence of the AI meeting in San Francisco
Governments are finding it increasingly difficult to keep up with the growing range of hazards due to the astounding rate of innovation that has occurred since the first AI summit in November.
Raimondo in May announced the launch of the International Network of AI Safety Institutes during the AI Seoul Summit in May, where nations agreed to prioritise AI safety, innovation, and inclusivity. The goal of the San Francisco meeting is to jumpstart technical collaboration before the AI Action Summit in Paris in February.
Raimondo said the aim is “close, thoughtful coordination with our allies and like-minded partners.”
“We want the rules of the road on AI to be underpinned by safety, security, and trust,” she added.
The San Francisco meeting will include technical experts from each member’s AI safety institute or equivalent government-backed scientific office to discuss priority work areas and advance global collaboration and knowledge sharing on AI safety.
Commerce Department proposal for reporting requirements
Last week, the Commerce Department said it was proposing to require detailed reporting requirements for advanced AI developers and cloud computing providers to ensure the technologies are safe and can withstand cyberattacks.
The regulatory push comes as legislative action in Congress on AI has stalled.
President Joe Biden in October 2023 signed an executive order requiring developers of AI systems posing risks to U.S. national security, the economy, public health, or safety to share the results of safety tests with the U.S. government before they are publicly released.
