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The UK is doing ‘groundbreaking’ work on AI safety – but the risk all depends on what the US and and China decide, says Jonathan Black
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A former national security adviser has given a stark warning that any hope for proper global regulation of AI will depend on decisions made by the US.
The UK is doing “groundbreaking” work on the security and safety of artificial intelligence. But the response will depend on other parts of the world, said Jonathan Black, who helped to organise the world’s first global summit on artificial intelligence safety in 2023.
The Bletchley Park summit brought industry leaders like Elon Musk and CEOs from OpenAI and Anthropic together with world leaders from Europe, the US, and China.
Guests included Rishi Sunak, Kamala Harris, and Chinese vice-minister of science and technology Wu Zhaohui. At the end of the summit, 28 countries signed the Bletchley Declaration, calling for global co-operation to collectively manage the risks and responsibilities of artificial intelligence.
Three years is a long time in politics – and even longer in AI. How has this collectivist approach fared since Bletchley Park? Mr Black reflects that while the summit was ‘groundbreaking’, much of the future of artificial intelligence now lies in the hands of the US and China.
“The UK has a lot to be proud of in terms of AI. We’ve been very ahead of the curve. The UK institute has become the most globally recognised for checking that these models are safe,” he said on the In The Room podcast.
“But quite a lot of this is gonna come down to what the Chinese and the Americans sort out between themselves.”
Fears around a potential existential risk to humanity from artificial intelligence have been supercharged in the last week following calls from Sam Altman and Elon Musk to ‘slow down’ AI development over safety concerns.
Donald Trump responded with a Truth Social rant, branding the concerns a “sick conspiracy” against artificial intelligence and data centres which would only benefit China.
He railed against the suggestion of any AI governance, insisting that the only guardrail needed is “a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT.
“WHOEVER WINS AI, WINS!”
China's foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun dismissed narratives of threat, confrontation, and malicious competition, saying: “All parties should work together to advance AI in a manner that is open, inclusive, beneficial to all, and oriented toward the good.”
Mr Black remains optimistic despite the warnings, fears, and conflicting tones between the two countries he considers industry superpowers. “Those real existential risks matter a lot: that 0.1% [chance] of, you know, are the bots gonna kill us? It's not in America or China’s interest for those things to happen.
“But [regulation] is going to be quite hard to do in practice unless the US government is able to put some sort of rules behind it.
“We should be worried,” Mr Black says. “But we also need to worry about harnessing the benefits.”
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