On Wednesday, the Britain government released a document called the Bletchley Declaration, signed by representatives from the 28 countries attending the event, including the U.S. and China, which warned of the dangers posed by the most advanced “frontier” A.I. systems. The Bletchley Declaration included an agreement that substantial risks may arise from potential intentional misuse or unintended issues of control of frontier AI, with particular concern caused by cybersecurity, biotechnology, and disinformation risks, according to the UK government, which oversaw the international consensus.

The declaration set out a two-pronged agenda focused on identifying risks of shared concern and building scientific understanding of them, while also developing cross-country policies to mitigate them. The declaration encouraged transparency and accountability from actors developing frontier AI technology on their plans to measure, monitor, and mitigate potentially harmful capabilities

"The Declaration fulfills key summit objectives in establishing shared agreement and responsibility on the risks, opportunities and a forward process for international collaboration on frontier AI safety and research, particularly through greater scientific collaboration," Britain said in a separate statement accompanying the declaration.

“There is potential for serious, even catastrophic, harm, either deliberate or unintentional, stemming from the most significant capabilities of these A.I. models,” the declaration said.

“Many risks arising from A.I. are inherently international in nature, and so are best addressed through international cooperation. We resolve to work together in an inclusive manner to ensure human-centric, trustworthy, and responsible A.I.”

Rishi Sunak welcomed the declaration, calling it “quite incredible”.

In remarks ahead of his own appearance at the summit on Thursday, the prime minister added, “There will be nothing more transformative to the futures of our children and grandchildren than technological advances like AI.

“We owe it to them to ensure AI develops in a safe and responsible way, gripping the risks it poses early enough in the process.”

Since the emergence of ChatGPT, a human-like chatbot that showed how the newest models are advancing in powerful and unanticipated ways, last year, governments have been rushing to address the hazards posed by the rapidly changing technology.

With the development of leading A.I. systems concentrated in the United States and a small number of other countries, some attendees said regulations must account for the technology’s impact globally.

Rajeev Chandrasekhar, a minister of technology representing India, said policies must be set by a “coalition of nations rather than just one country to two countries.”

“By allowing innovation to get ahead of regulation, we open ourselves to the toxicity and misinformation and weaponization that we see on the internet today, represented by social media,” he said.

Executives from leading technology and A.I. companies, including Anthropic, Google DeepMind, IBM, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, OpenAI and Tencent, were attending the conference.

Image source: Reuters