The British government declared on Thursday that the U.K.'s summit for AI safety, with the aim to stimulate conscientious growth of AI, will be held at Bletchley Park. This renowned building was the place where the World War II Codebreakers deciphered the Enigma Code in 1941. Scheduled for November 1 and 2, the summit will research the hazards of AI, particularly in the zone of its development.
The U.K. government has declared that it will be hosting the world's inaugural artificial intelligence safety summit to be held at the famous Bletchley Park - the home of the codebreakers who deciphered the code that put an end to World War II.As per the Thursday press release, the meeting will unite international governments, AI firms and experts in research to discuss the "safe development and use of frontier AI technology". The conference will take place on November 1 and 2. In his Thursday statement, U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak declared: "To truly reap the extraordinary advantages of artificial intelligence, we must come to grips with the risks and make sure it advances responsibly in the years to come. With the combined power of our international counterparts, our flourishing AI industry and experienced academic community, we can make sure the necessary international steps are taken for the responsible development of AI around the world."As of now, it is not known which companies, governments or researchers will attend the event. The US leads the AI race thanks to its prominent firms, including Microsoft, OpenAI’s supporter, Google owning Bard, artificial chatbot, and Meta’s Llama open-source language model. The U.K. is home to several driving companies in AI research, development and commercial production, such as DeepMind, the U.K. AI lab, and Synthesia, the platform for creating AI-generated videos.The iconic Bletchley Park was the headquarters of the WWII Codebreakers, who in 1941 cracked the Reich’s secret code, Enigma, used for issuing aerial commands to the Eastern front. The effort was led by Alan Turing, English mathematician, computer scientist and cryptographer, thought of as the father of theoretical computer science and AI.The U.K. tech sector has been declining lately due to a decrease in venture capital funding. Data from Atomico showed that the capital invested in U.K. tech diminished by 57% during the first half of 2023 standing at $7.4 billion.The British national government is striving to become a global leader in technology, launching initiatives to encourage innovation, such as digital currencies, blockchain and Web3. In June, Prime Minister Sunak encouraged Britain to be the “geographical home for global AI safety regulation”. Still, the U.K. is facing an uphill battle to compete with significant players such as the United States and China.The US is the leader in AI as its prominent firms are investing significantly in the technology. Moreover, China is continuously pushing its AI agenda forward, with Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu showing off their own generative AI chatbots and Beijing having already set up certain rules concerning these services.“The U.K. has a favorable position to play a significant role as the home of top AI talent and first-class companies such as Deepmind. We are AI optimists and trust that, with the apt control, this technology can be genuinely transformative for society”, said Phelim Bradley, CEO of Prolific, a company offering paid surveys on AI developers' technologies.He concluded: “For this Summit to be successful, it is vital for enough attention to be given to topics like the equitable and ethical treatment of AI workers (e.g. data annotators), the sourcing and transparency of data used for AI model creation and the potential for prejudice being embedded in these systems due to training.”AI is being speedily used in many fields including healthcare, financial services and cybersecurity. Generative AI algorithms, in particular, pose numerous dangers to society, with specialists cautioning against the potential for job displacement, wrong information and cybersecurity issues.
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