According to a recent announcement by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, the UK is aiming to become the “geographical home of global AI safety regulation”. This comes amidst growing concerns that artificial intelligence could pose a risk to humanity, similar to pandemics and nuclear war.
Speaking at London Tech Week, Sunak highlighted the rapid advancements in AI technology and how it could undermine our values and freedoms. He emphasized his goal of making the UK a world leader in AI security and regulation by conducting cutting-edge research funded by the £100m Generative AI Task Force.
Sunak also acknowledged that AI does not respect traditional borders and announced plans for hosting the first global AI summit this fall. The government hopes to develop a shared approach to address problems associated with the technology.
Furthermore, Sunak pointed out that harnessing the potential of AI can improve people’s lives. He cited examples such as education and healthcare where AI can help achieve public service reform goals.
The UK government has recently invested several billion pounds in technology, including £900m for supercomputing power, a £2.5bn quantum computing funding push, and a £1bn semiconductor strategy.
It is clear that the UK is making significant strides towards becoming a world leader in AI safety regulation. It is believed that, “frontier labs” such as Google DeepMind, OpenAI, and Anthropic have agreed to provide early or priority access to models for research and security purposes.
As we continue to advance in technology, it is important that we prioritize safety regulations for emerging technologies like AI. The UK’s efforts towards becoming an intellectual and geographical home of global AI safety regulation are certainly commendable steps in this direction.
