Sunak the influencer: How the UK’s AI summit surprised the skeptics
POLITICONov 03, 2023
UK AI Summit: Big Tech to Allow Government Vetting of AI Products
The Facts
As part of the UK's first two-day Artificial Intelligence (AI) safety summit, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced Thursday that a number of technology companies had signed a voluntary document alongside 10 countries and the EU, allowing governments to safety-test next-generation AI models.
Eight companies — Amazon, Google, Open AI, Meta, Microsoft, Inflection AI, Mistral AI, and Anthropic — signed the document, alongside the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Singapore, and the EU.
The Spin
Narrative A
Despite facing skepticism prior to the event, the UK's AI summit was a success. The ability in and of itself to simply mediate conversations between the likes of the US and China should be praised, let alone the signing of shared communications and declarations. The AI safety agreement is a landmark moment, allowing governments to ensure safety concerning the latest technology within the fast-growing sector.
Narrative B
The outcome of the UK's AI summit was nothing more than empty rhetoric, voluntary declarations, and self-promotion. Alongside a drastically small emphasis on the opportunity for good that AI's potential holds, the summit ignored the immediate urgency for international legislation. Despite likely plaudits, the UK missed an opportunity to really lead in the regulation of the AI sector.
Narrative C
The UK's summit took a heavy approach to existential questions concerning doomsday AI predictions rather than the practical impact that AI may have on common workplaces and labor. The UK has demonstrated its strength as a leading force in the sector, however, such discourse between political, academic, and commercial elites is currently too narrow and leans too heavily upon the abstract threat of creating god-like intelligence.
Nerd narrative
There is a 60% chance of a discussion in mainstream media concerning an AI arms race in March 2025, according to the Metaculus prediction community.