The UK and South Korea co-hosted the AI Seoul Summit on the 21st and 22nd of May. The summit aimed to pave the way for the safe development of AI technologies, drawing on the cooperative framework laid down by the Bletchley Declaration.

The two-day event featured a virtual leaders’ session, co-chaired by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, and a subsequent in-person meeting among Digital Ministers. UK Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan, and Korean Minister of Science and ICT Lee Jong-Ho co-hosted the latter.

The summit built upon the historic Bletchley Park discussions held at the historic location in the UK the previous year, emphasizing AI safety, inclusion, and innovation. It aimed to ensure that AI advancements benefitted humanity while minimizing potential risks and enhancing global governance on tech innovation.

“The summit we held at Bletchley Park was a generational moment,” stated Donelan. “If we continued to bring international governments and a broad range of voices together, I had every confidence that we could continue to develop a global approach which would allow us to realize the transformative potential of this generation-defining technology safely and responsibly.”

Echoing this sentiment, Minister Lee Jong-Ho highlighted the importance of the Seoul Summit in furthering global cooperation on AI safety and innovation.

“AI was advancing at an unprecedented pace that exceeded our expectations, and it was crucial to establish global norms and governance to harness such technological innovations to enhance the welfare of humanity,” explained Lee. “We hoped that the AI Seoul Summit would serve as an opportunity to strengthen global cooperation on not only AI safety but also AI innovation and inclusion, and promote sustainable AI development.”

Innovation remained a focal point for the UK, evidenced by initiatives like the Manchester Prize and the formation of the AI Safety Institute: the first state-backed organization dedicated to AI safety. This proactive approach mirrored the UK’s commitment to international collaboration on AI governance, underscored by a recent agreement with the US on AI safety measures.

Accompanying the Seoul Summit was the release of the International Scientific Report on Advanced AI Safety. This report, independently led by Turing Prize winner Yoshua Bengio, represented a collective effort to consolidate the best scientific research on AI safety. It underscored the summit’s role not only as a forum for discussion but as a catalyst for actionable insight into AI’s safe development.

The agenda of the AI Seoul Summit reflected the urgency of addressing the challenges and opportunities presented by AI. From discussing model safety evaluations to fostering sustainable AI development. As the world embraced AI innovation, the AI Seoul Summit embodied a concerted effort to shape a future where technology served humanity safely and delivered prosperity and inclusivity for all.