A closed-door discussion hosted by the Centre for International Governance Innovation at the Global Solutions Summit in Berlin.
Advanced artificial intelligence (AI) may become the most powerful technology ever created by humans, unleashing explosive growth in cognitive capability that transforms all aspects of society and shapes the future trajectory of Earth-originating intelligent life. Such a transformation offers tremendous promise — and peril. Navigating this transformation successfully may require the very best of human ingenuity, wisdom and global cooperation.
Future developments in AI could bring enormous benefits, with the potential to accelerate scientific discovery, spur technological innovation and increase prosperity. At the same time, the risks associated with AI are growing, including issues of privacy, bias, misinformation, propaganda and inequality. Critically, as AI systems become more powerful, they could pose safety and security risks worldwide. These include the intentional misuse of powerful AI systems to cause widespread harm and the development of autonomous AI systems that cannot be controlled.
Many issues relating to the rapid advance of AI can and should be addressed at the national level. However, there are some issues that can only be managed effectively through international cooperation. These include fully realizing and sharing the potential global benefits of AI, preventing and mitigating the most severe global risks posed by AI, and developing the means for legitimate and effective decision making on the future implications of AI for humanity.
Important efforts are under way to strengthen international understanding and cooperation on AI, such as the recent UN resolution on safe, secure and trustworthy AI, and the upcoming AI Seoul Summit. However, such efforts do not yet appear sufficient to handle some of the most challenging scenarios that the global community could face if AI capabilities continue to develop rapidly in the coming months and years.
This interactive session will explore the potential design of an effective international strategy to address emerging global challenges posed by the accelerating development of AI. It will propose an agile and flexible approach based on the adoption of an international framework convention accompanied by specific protocols to facilitate the most urgent areas of collaboration. Finally, the session will consider key obstacles to success and how participants may best contribute to the way forward.
