World Powers Say They Want to Contain AI. They're Also Racing to Advance It

Yesterday, 28 countries including the US, members of the EU, and China signed a declaration warning that artificial intelligence is advancing with such speed and uncertainty that it could cause "serious, even catastrophic, harm." The declaration, announced at the AI Safety Summit organized by the British government and held at the historic World War II code-breaking site, Bletchley Park, also calls for international collaboration to define and explore the risks from the development of more powerful AI models, including large language models such as those powering chatbots like ChatGPT. "This is a landmark achievement that sees the world's greatest AI powers agree on the urgency behind understanding the risks of AI--helping ensure the long-term future of our children and grandchildren," the UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, said in a statement. The venue for the Summit paid homage to Alan Turing, the British mathematician who did foundational work on both computing and AI, and who helped the Allies break Nazi codes during the Second World War by developing early computing devices. The AI hype-train has a knack for turning even close allies into competitors, though.