Media reports say the Bletchley Declaration, an international agreement listing opportunities, risks and needs for global action on ‘frontier AI,’ systems that pose the most urgent and dangerous risks, has been signed by 28 countries, including the US, the UK, China, six EU member states, Brazil, Nigeria, Israel and Saudi Arabia.
All these countries reportedly attended the UK’s AI Safety Summit that took place in Bletchley Park, England, on November 1-2.
The Declaration reportedly 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.
“Many risks arising from AI are inherently international in nature, and so are best addressed through international cooperation,” reads a public statement published on November 1 by the UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).
The signatories have also agreed on the first two steps of their agenda for addressing ‘frontier AI’ risk. These are: 1) identifying AI safety risks of shared concern by building a shared scientific and evidence-based understanding of these risks and sustaining that understanding as capabilities continue to increase; and 2) building respective risk-based policies across the signatory countries to ensure safety in light of such risks (this includes pushing for increased transparency by private actors developing frontier AI capabilities, developing appropriate evaluation metrics, tools for safety testing and relevant public sector capability and scientific research).
The second step means the 28 signatories will “collaborate as appropriate while recognizing our approaches may differ based on national circumstances and applicable legal frameworks,” DSIT said.
The 28 countries will also support an internationally inclusive network of scientific research on ‘frontier AI’ safety that encompasses and complements existing and new multilateral, plurilateral and bilateral collaboration, including through existing international fora and other relevant initiatives.
Two future international events on AI safety will take place. South Korea is set to co-host a mini virtual summit on AI in the next six months and France will host the next in-person Summit in 2024.
