US to convene global AI safety summit in November

The Biden administration plans to convene a global safety summit on artificial intelligence, it said Wednesday, as Congress continues to wrestle with regulating the technology.

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will host the first meeting of the International Network of AI Safety Institutes in San Francisco on Nov. 20-21 to “advance global cooperation toward the safe, secure, and reliable development of artificial intelligence . “

Members of the network include Australia, Canada, the European Union, France, Japan, Kenya, South Korea, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Generative AI – which can create text, photos and videos in response to unlimited requests – has sparked excitement as well as fears that it could make some jobs obsolete, overturn elections and overwhelm people, and have catastrophic effects .

Raimondo announced the launch of the International Network of AI Safety Institutes in May during the AI ​​Summit in Seoul in May, where nations agreed to prioritize AI safety, innovation and inclusion. The purpose of the meeting in San Francisco is to initiate technical collaboration before the AI ​​Action Summit in Paris in February.

Raimondo said the goal is “close and careful coordination with our allies and like-minded partners.”

“We want the rules of the road in 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 an equivalent government-supported scientific office to discuss priority work areas and promote global collaboration and knowledge sharing on AI safety.

Last week, the Commerce Department said it is proposing detailed reporting requirements for advanced AI developers and cloud computing providers to ensure the technologies are secure and can withstand cyberattacks.

The regulatory push comes as legislative action in Congress on AI has stalled.

President Joe Biden signed an executive order in October 2023 requiring developers of AI systems that pose risks to US national security, the economy, public health or safety to share the results of safety tests with the US government before they are released publicly.

(Reporting by Shepardson; Editing by Miral Fahmy)