France will host the next AI Safety Summit in Paris, according to a decision made on the sidelines of the first-ever summit currently taking place mainly behind closed doors in London on Wednesday and Thursday.
The AI Safety Summit aims to launch work and initiatives to address the technological risks posed by AI, particularly so-called cutting-edge AI, and to develop international cooperation on the safety of these systems.
“The first edition of the Artificial Intelligence Security Summit, organised by the United Kingdom, provides an opportunity to develop international cooperation in the field of security, a crucial issue for the years to come. It was, therefore, natural for France to host the second edition of this summit,” said French Minister Delegate for the Digital Economy Jean-Noël Barrot in a press release.
“Artificial intelligence is a tremendous lever for innovation and progress, and we want Europe to take full advantage of it. However, certain developments and uses of AI pose security risks, and international cooperation is the best way of dealing with them,” said French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire in the same press release.
Leading technology experts and political figures, such as US Vice-President Kamala Harris, UK Technology Minister Michelle Donelan, OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman and tech billionaire Elon Musk have so far attended the summit.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni are expected to attend on Thursday.
“France is a European leader in the development of artificial intelligence models”, said Barrot, with Le Maire pointing to the international initiatives, including on AI ethics, launched by French President Emmanuel Macron, who, at the Vivatech event in June this year, announced a €500 million investment plan to support global AI players.
France also displayed its leading role in Rome on Monday when Le Maire and his Italian and German counterparts jointly called for an “innovation-friendly” approach to EU AI regulation.
They said this pro-innovation focus should “reduce unnecessary administrative burdens on businesses that could hamper Europe’s capacity for innovation, ” insisting that AI should be “at the heart” of the EU’s industrial policy.
While no date has yet been announced for a second AI summit, the summit’s organisation is fully in line with the French and EU strategy for the governance of artificial intelligence, Le Maire’s office said in the press release.
(Clara Bauer-Babef | Euractiv.fr)
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Source: euractiv.com
