‘AI Safety Summit 2023’                                                                                      

Why in News

The UK hosted a major Artificial Intelligence (AI) summit, bringing together political leaders and tech experts to discuss both the promise and potential perils of this rapidly advancing technology.

Important Points

• The United Kingdom hosted a two-day Artificial Intelligence (AI) Summit, bringing together political leaders and tech experts to discuss both the promise and potential perils of this rapidly advancing technology.
• Recently, 28 countries (including India) and the European Union, who participated in the summit, agreed to the “Bletchley Declaration”, named after the venue of the summit.

About AI

• Artificial intelligence (AI) is the ability of a computer or a robot controlled by a computer to do tasks that are usually done by humans because they require human intelligence and discernment.
• The term is frequently applied to the project of developing systems endowed with the intellectual processes characteristic of humans, such as the ability to reason, discover meaning, generalize, or learn from past experience.
• AI algorithms are trained using large datasets so that they can identify patterns, make predictions and recommend actions, much like a human would, just faster and better.
• Latest and popular examples of AI algorithms (known as AI Chatbots) are OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Bard, Microsoft’s Bing Chat, etc.

Concerns w.r.t. AI Chatbots & Response by Major Countries:

• The concerns lie under three broad categories:

• Privacy,
• System bias, and
• Violation of intellectual property rights

• Currently, governments do not have any policy tools to halt work in AI development.
• If left unchecked, it can start infringing on – and ultimately take control of – people’s lives.
• Businesses across industries are increasingly deploying AI to analyse preferences and personalize user experiences, boost productivity, and fight fraud.

• For example, ChatGPT Plus, has already been integrated by Snapchat, UnrealEngine and Shopify in their applications.

• This growing use of AI has already transformed the way the global economy works and how businesses interact with their consumers.

• However, in some cases it is also beginning to infringe on people’s privacy.

• Recently, US President Joe Biden issued an executive order aimed at safeguarding against threats posed by AI, and exerting oversight over safety benchmarks used by companies to evaluate generative AI bots.
• In fact, policymakers across countries have increased regulatory scrutiny of generative AI tools, especially after ChatGPT’s launch.
• On the other end of the spectrum, China over the last year came out with some of the world’s first nationally binding regulations targeting specific types of algorithms and AI.
• Currently, there are no specific laws in India with regard to regulating AI.

• Ministry of Electronics and information Technology (MEITY), is the executive agency for AI-related strategies and had constituted committees to bring in a policy framework for AI.

About the Bletchley Declaration:

• The declaration offers a comprehensive snapshot of the global understanding of artificial intelligence’s promises and risks.
• The document emphasizes the necessity of aligning AI systems with human intent and urges a deeper exploration of AI’s full capabilities.
• Furthermore, it acknowledges the potential for severe, even catastrophic, harm caused by AI, whether intentional or unintentional.
• It highlights the importance of safeguarding human rights, transparency, explainability, fairness, accountability, regulation, safety, human oversight, ethics, bias mitigation, privacy, and data protection.
• The document reflects the complex negotiations between nations with conflicting interests and legal systems, including the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, and China.

Role of Civil Society & Industry:

• The declaration stresses the importance of civil society’s involvement in addressing AI safety concerns, despite criticism from some civil society groups claiming exclusion from the summit.
• It also places a significant responsibility on companies developing “frontier” AI systems to ensure their safety through testing, evaluation, and appropriate measures.

India’s Stance at the Summit:

• Union Minister of State for IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar, who is representing India at Bletchley Park, said at the opening plenary session that the weaponization represented by social media must be overcome.
• He also said that steps should be taken to ensure AI represents safety and trust.
• Union Minister’s statement at the summit has put a stamp of approval at the highest level on the shift in India’s position from not considering any legal intervention on regulating AI in the country.
• Earlier, in April 2023, the Ministry of Electronics and IT had said that it is not considering any law to regulate the AI sector.