The UK has a significant role in AI safety through its AI Security Institute and research community, but the sector itself is dominated by the US and China.
Britain's King Charles III has met with senior AI figures where he urged them to keep artificial intelligence technologies under human control and ensure it serves people, communities and the environment.
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Representatives from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind and Nvidia were hosted by the King at Dumfries House in Scotland to discuss how AI can benefit society while limiting its risks.
Joining the King and AI bosses, including the CEO of AI giant Nvidia Jensen Huang, was the UK's newly appointed Minister for Artificial Intelligence, Kanishka Narayan.
In his opening remarks, the King referenced the rapid speed at which AI has come: "The development of AI – its substance and its pace – are both intriguing and deeply concerning in equal measure,"
The "existential dangers of such technologies falling into the wrong hands, and being used in potentially catastrophic ways” should be urgently considered, he added.
In his speech, King Charles did not name any countries or companies, but said he wanted those in the room to find ways to use AI for beneficial purposes “with safety at its heart” and consider how to “build international cooperation and consensus” to achieve that.
Concerns about the future of AI
The meeting in Scotland comes after several high profile incidents regarding the safety of AI technology.
Last week Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon made headlines by resigning and publishing a serious warning about the technology's potential risks. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei responded with an essay saying that the industry might need to slow the pace of its work.
On Wednesday OpenAI, which makes ChatGPT, reported six incidents of “unexpected or concerning” behaviour by its models. These include performing tasks without authorisation, coordinating with other models and evading oversight by human researchers.
Nvidia's Huang, on the other hand, has criticised the call for slowing down. The Nvidia CEO said it should be up to individual companies to develop their AI technology safely and test it properly before releasing any products to the public.
“When a product is not safe enough, we should hold it back and keep engineering. We’ve always done that and we should continue to do that,” he said in his speech following the king's remarks.
