News Feature historic AI Safety Summit of world political and tech industry leaders at Bletchley Park. They were at the development that is set to transform the world of work and society in general. Andrew Gibbs reports. The panel discussion in full flow at the AI Summit Decrypted event hosted by software company Aiimi
It is a technology that is going to change everything we do
the minds of educational establishments in Milton Keynes and beyond. Milton Keynes College Group principal and chief executive Sally Alexander, who was among the audience, said: “We are really excited about this and the opportunity to develop the skills that are needed in Milton Keynes.” Dr Manolova stressed the importance
of AI literacy at all levels. Professor Morrissey emphasised the need to introduce appropriate education as quickly as possible to narrow the skills gap. Panel host Richard Foster-Fletcher, founder of MKAI, said staging the AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park was a breakthrough moment for the
technology and the sector. “The journey to the future of AI has started here in Milton Keynes,” he told the audience. “It is a technology that is going to change everything we do.” And businesses, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises, have good cause to view AI as a positive for their operations. Mr Higgins said: “Businesses should approach it from a problems and opportunities perspective and establish what the right tools are to apply. For most SMEs it is just another great set of tools to solve problems and make their business a better business. “I do not think that SMEs need to worry about regulation as long as they stay on the right side of societal concerns. A lot of it is common sense.” Mr Lawton added: “AI is going to drive huge growth in the tech sector and will have a huge impact on all jobs. Businesses are going to be clamouring to have these data foundations to move their business forward.”
Governments to work with corporates on AI testing
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opportunities it creates. It is opportunities AI will create. the new art of the possible “We need to make sure that and we need to think big and people feel empowered and work back. The fear is there, not replaced,” Ms Baker said. for sure, but let’s think about Mr Salvin said that AI how we can make it work.” creates a huge opportunity for AI invokes ethical the tech and wider business considerations too, she community in Milton added. “Just because we can Keynes. “We have to seize the does not mean that we should. opportunity AI presents but We need to think about what we must put in the guardrails can go wrong but it does not and controls so that we can do mean that we should not so safely and ethically. do things - we need “This is part of to manage the our commitment Just risks.” to invest in our because Essentially, Milton Keynes AI is about community,” we can does adapting rather he added. “We not mean we than adopting want to make in order to act Milton Keynes should... differently and the leading tech in response to the city in the UK.”
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ountries and companies developing frontier AI have agreed a groundbreaking plan on AI safety testing at the AI Safety Summit. They recognise that both parties have a crucial role in testing the next generation of AI models. This includes collaborating on testing against potentially harmful capabilities, including critical national security, safety and societal harms. And governments as well as companies will now have a role in seeing that external safety testing of frontier AI models occurs. AI Safety Summit delegates agreed to invest in public sector capacity for testing and other safety research, to share outcomes of evaluations and to work towards developing shared standards. This will lay the groundwork for future international progress on AI safety in years to come. It is one of the several significant steps achieved at the Summit on building a global approach to ensuring safe, responsible AI, including the UK’s launch of
a new AI Safety Institute. Professor Yoshua Bengio, a member of the UN’s Scientific Advisory Board, is to lead a scientific assessment of existing research on the risks and capabilities of frontier AI and set out the priority areas to inform future work on AI safety. The findings will support future AI Safety Summits. The Republic of Korea is to co-host a virtual summit in the next six months. France will host the next in-person Summit later in the year. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: “Until now the only people testing the safety of new AI models have been the very companies developing it. We should not rely on them to mark their own homework, as many of them agree.” The State of the Science report will help policymakers worldwide to keep up with the rapid pace of change in AI. Demis Hassabis, cofounder and chief executive of Google DeepMind said: “Getting this right will take a collective effort from governments, industry and civil society.”
Milton Keynes MPs Ben Everitt (left) and Iain Stewart at Bletchley Park with Michelle Donelan, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak
Public trust of AI is now urgent, say MPs
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Ps Ben Everitt and Iain Stewart have hailed the A1 Safety Summit at Bletchley Park as a landmark moment for both Artificial Intelligence and for Milton Keynes. AI can be a force for good as long as humanity learns to use it properly but the risks of getting it wrong could be “catastrophic”, Mr Everitt told the A1 Summit Decrypted event. Mr Stewart said the urgent issue now is to generate trust of AI among the public. “This week has been incredibly significant,” he said. “It has put us as a city on the map and the summit is only the start of the journey, the most significant staging post yet.” Bringing the leading nations and corporates together at Bletchley Park to agree a global understanding in the form of the Bletchley Declaration on AI safety is a success in its own right, the MPs said. “The issue now is trust,” said Mr Stewart, MP for Milton Keynes South. “The challenge is to get the public to see that AI can be a force for good and not a threat to the human race. The jury will be out on that for many people. People will be terrified of what AI could potentially lead to.” He likened AI to the computer systems used in planes and trains, in which millions travel regularly. “The challenge is to engender that trust in the majority of the population so that they see what AI can add to health and tackling climate change, where it can do so much good,” said Mr Stewart, who chairs Parliament’s Transport Committee. Joining him at the event, Milton Keynes North MP Mr Everitt said that education of the benefits and risk of AI is now paramount. “We are now on the cusp of developing an intelligence that has the consciousness of a life form, that is non-organic and giving it the ability to use our
n Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan has hailed Milton Keynes as the ‘vibrant tech capital’ during a debate in the House of Commons. She was replying to comments by Milton Keynes North MP Ben Everitt in the House following her attendance at the AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park. Mr Everitt highlighted the city as an ‘excellent place to invest in technologies like AI and robotics’. Ms Donelan said: “I absolutely agree with my Honourable Friend. I could not have thought of a better place to host this international summit than Bletchley Park and it is not just me that thinks that. All of our delegates remarked how important it was to host it at such a historic venue and so close to the vibrant tech capital Milton Keynes.” language. It is existential and we should be talking about it.” The potential risks are considerable, he added. “They are far away but they could be catastrophic if we get it wrong so the building blocks have to be put in place now. It comes down to education. “I am very optimistic that we have a global community that can rise to the challenge of developing AI safely.” Milton Keynes is well placed to take full advantage of AI’s development, Mr Everitt added. “Milton Keynes is where it is at when it comes to applying technology and investing in the future we want to see,” he said. “We should be incredibly proud of everything we have done and be really positive about the future.” Mr Stewart said the city should take ‘immense civic pride’ in its staging of the AI Safety Summit. “We should be proud of the fact that the name of Bletchley Park is once again resonating around the world.”
Business MK | December 2023
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