This week, South Korea and Britain are hosting a major international summit on artificial intelligence (AI) in Seoul, focusing on AI safety amid the rapid advancements in generative AI technologies. Governments are set to press tech firms on ensuring the safety of AI developments.

The AI Seoul Summit, starting tomorrow (21 May), is a follow-up to the inaugural global AI safety summit held at Bletchley Park in Britain last year. That summit saw numerous countries express concerns to leading AI firms about the risks posed by the technology.

This year’s summit will again prioritise safety, with representatives expected from leading AI companies, including OpenAI, Google DeepMind, French AI firm Mistral, Microsoft, and Anthropic.

“As with any new technology, AI brings new risks, including deliberate misuse from those who mean to do us harm,” South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol and UK prime minister Rishi Sunak said Monday in a joint statement.

“However, with new models being released almost every week, we are still learning where these risks may emerge,” continued the piece. 

The success of ChatGPT since its release in 2022 has fueled a global surge in generative AI development. These models can now create text, images, audio, and video from simple prompts, with proponents lauding their potential to revolutionise lives and businesses. 

However, critics warn of potential misuse, such as spreading fake news or creating “deepfake” media to manipulate public opinion.

Yoon and Sunak emphasised the need for international standards to govern AI development and use. “When we meet with companies at the AI Seoul Summit, we will ask them to do more to show how they assess and respond to risk within their organisations,” they wrote.

“We will also take the next steps on shaping the global standards that will avoid a race to the bottom.”

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The two-day event will include both virtual and in-person sessions, with a mix of closed-door discussions and public sessions in Seoul.

The summit will also explore how governments can support AI innovation, particularly in academic research, and ensure that AI technologies are accessible and beneficial in addressing global challenges like climate change and poverty.

“It is just six months since world leaders met at Bletchley, but even in this short space of time, the landscape of AI has changed dramatically,” Yoon and Sunak said.

“The pace of change will only continue to accelerate, so our work must accelerate too.”