UK to hold conference with developers in Silicon Valley to discuss AI risks

The UK is to host a conference with leading artificial intelligence (AI) developers in Silicon Valley in November to discuss how to tackle the potential risks surrounding the technology.

The Government has disclosed that the discussions will zero in on strategies AI firms intend to employ to mitigate concerns about the ascending rise of AI, specifically regarding its misuse by malign actors. Earlier within the year, at the AI Seoul Summit, a worldwide coalition of companies came to a consensus to circulate frameworks tackling AI risk and pledged to cease the release or creation of AI models if they harbour unmanageable risks.

November's upcoming talks are set to gather a mix of researchers and policy advocates to converse on AI safety matters, the Government added. The names of participating companies have not yet been confirmed.

This development unfolds as the forthcoming international AI summit – the AI Action Summit – is scheduled to be held in France in February, 2025. “The conference is a clear sign of the UK’s ambition to further the shared global mission to design practical and effective approaches to AI safety,” declared Technology Secretary Peter Kyle.

“We’re just months away from the AI Action Summit, and the discussions in San Francisco will give companies a clear focus on where and how they can bolster their AI safety plans building on the commitments they made in Seoul. ”.

The UK-led talks will follow a United States-hosted meeting of the International Network of AI Safety Institutes, which will also be held in San Francisco in the days before the UK’s conference in November. The UK launched the world’s first AI Safety Institute during the AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park last year, with a number of other countries – including the US – since launching their own institutes.

These summits have resulted in various voluntary agreements and declarations regarding the safe development of AI tools. Earlier this month, the UK joined the US and EU in signing the first legally-binding international treaty on AI safety, committing nations to protect the public from potential risks associated with the technology.