The United States and the United Kingdom formed a new cooperation to advance the science of AI safety amid growing concerns about the next generation of computers.
The United States and the United Kingdom launched a new alliance on the science of artificial intelligence safety (AI safety) on Monday, amid mounting concerns about the next generation of systems.
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and British Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan signed a memorandum of understanding in Washington to collaborate on advanced AI model testing after agreements made at the AI Safety Summit in Bletchley Park in November.
“We all know AI is the defining technology of our generation,” Raimondo said in a statement. “This partnership will accelerate both of our institutes work across the full spectrum to address the risks of our national security concerns and the concerns of our broader society.”
Britain and the United States are among the countries that have established government-led AI safety institutions.
Britain announced in October that its institute would investigate and test new types of AI, while the United States announced in November that it was establishing its own safety institute to assess dangers from so-called frontier AI models and is now collaborating with 200 companies and organizations.
Under formal cooperation, Britain and the United States want to conduct at least one joint testing exercise on a publicly accessible model and are discussing personnel exchanges between the institutes. Both are working on similar relationships with other governments to enhance AI safety.
“This is the first agreement of its kind anywhere in the world,” he remarked. “AI is already an exceptional force for good in our society, and it has great potential to address some of the world’s biggest challenges.
Generative AI, which can generate text, photographs, and videos in response to open-ended prompts, has sparked both enthusiasm and anxiety that it would render some jobs obsolete, disrupt elections, and potentially overtake humans, with catastrophic consequences.
Raimondo and Donelan stated on Monday that urgent, concerted action was needed to address AI dangers.
“Time is of the essence because the next set of models is about to be released, which will be much, much more capable,” Donelan went on to say. “We have a focus on the areas that we are dividing and conquering and really specializing in.”
Raimondo stated that she intends to discuss AI safety issues at a meeting of the US-EU Trade and Technology Council in Belgium on Thursday.
Raimondo stated that the Biden administration intends to announce new members of its artificial intelligence team soon. “We are pulling in the full resources of the U.S. government.”
Both governments intend to share crucial information about the capabilities and hazards connected with AI models and systems, as well as technical research on AI safety and security.
Biden signed an executive order in October aimed at reducing the hazards associated with artificial intelligence. In January, the Commerce Department proposed requiring U.S. cloud businesses to assess whether foreign entities are using U.S. data centers to train AI models.
Britain said in February that it would invest more than 100 million pounds ($125.5 million) to establish nine new research institutes and train regulators on AI technology.
Raimondo expressed particular concern about the possibility of AI applied to bioterrorism or a nuclear war scenario.
“Those are the things where the consequences could be catastrophic, and so we really have to have zero tolerance for some of these models being used for that capability,” she went on to say.
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