Michelle Donelan, the Secretary for Technology, seeks to implement early warning indicators for technology through a safety summit
UK ministers have issued a warning, stressing the need for a “smoke alarm” system for hazardous AI to avert significant threats like widespread casualties, cyberattacks, and uncontrolled AI technology. The Secretary for Technology, Michelle Donelan, expressed optimism that an upcoming safety summit in the UK would pave the way for an early warning mechanism. This mechanism would mandate tech companies to actively identify risks in their AI products and be prepared to address them. Donelan emphasized the necessity for a system comparable to a smoke alarm, where companies not only detect potential risks but also have a plan to mitigate them, calling for a comprehensive and universal implementation of such a system.
Regarding the imminent two-day summit scheduled for November at Bletchley Park, Donelan underscored the importance of understanding the risks associated with AI, notwithstanding the incredible opportunities it presents. The government revealed that the summit would primarily focus on two critical areas: the misuse of AI in the creation of bioweapons or for carrying out cyber-attacks, and the challenge of managing highly sophisticated AI systems.
Reportedly, Rishi Sunak perceives a narrowing window to establish a global consensus on defining the most critical AI risks and formulating strategies to address them. This sense of urgency stems from technology companies harnessing enhanced computing power, technological breakthroughs, and increased investments to create more potent AI models.
The summit is not envisioned to culminate in an international treaty comparable to those governing nuclear weapons in the context of AI development. Instead, it is expected to outline the spectrum of significant risks posed by AI systems and propose measures for their mitigation. The primary focus will be on “frontier” AI models, denoting cutting-edge systems whose capabilities rival or surpass the most advanced existing models, potentially posing threats to human life.
The government has outlined that the summit’s objective is to identify the current status of the frontier of AI development and its potential trajectory. Taking place at Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire, a site of historical significance as the workplace of codebreakers like Alan Turing during World War II, the event will bring together global leaders, AI firms, academics, and civil society groups.
As per a government statement released on Monday, there is a concern that models significantly more powerful than current ones, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT powered by the GPT-4 model, could soon become available. These models possess capabilities that are extremely challenging to predict, even for those developing them, and there is a default risk of them being accessible to various entities, including those with malicious intent.
A key concern among AI experts revolves around the potential of advanced systems surpassing human control. This apprehension is centered on the prospect of achieving artificial general intelligence, denoting AI with intelligence levels equal to or exceeding those of humans, and the theoretical capacity of such systems to bypass any established safeguards.
In its statement previewing the upcoming summit on Monday, the government underscored the emphasis on systems capable of evading control. The statement highlighted the risks associated with the “loss of control” arising from advanced systems, underscoring the critical importance of aligning these systems with our values and intentions.