The Bletchley Declaration: A Cornerstone in Global AI Governance
As 2023 closes, we are entering a point-of-no-return towards a global commitment to regulate artificial intelligence (AI). In November, the United Kingdom (UK) hosted the 2023 AI Safety Summit: the first ever global summit on AI. During this summit, 28 countries, including the EU as a single entity, signed a policy paper called the Bletchley Declaration. To emphasize the importance of this paper, it is important to outline what it is first.
Between 1–2 November 2023, the UK hosted the AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire, England. At this summit, various countries came together for the first time to discuss the growing concerns surrounding both the opportunities and risks associated with the rapid advancements in AI. Attendees of this event, which also included technology companies, researchers, and civil society groups, attempted to achieve the five summit objectives outlined by the UK government:
- Gather an international consensus on the risks of AI.
- Find a process towards international action on AI safety.
- Outline measures for individual organizations to take towards increasing AI safety.
- Evaluate the areas for international collaboration on AI safety research.
- Demonstrate how the safe development of AI will benefit its global use.
In an attempt to realize these goals, the countries who attended the AI Safety Summit produced and agreed to a policy paper entitled the Bletchley Declaration. This declaration consists of important affirmations of both the opportunities and risks surrounding the rapid advancement in AI.
On the former front, the declaration calls for AI to be used towards the betterment of both human services, like in healthcare, education, and food security, and of the advancement in science and technology in areas like energy, biodiversity, and climate. It also calls for AI to be used towards advancing both the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals, and — importantly — the protection of human rights. The declaration also calls for the recognition of the risks of AI, expressing the need to address regulatory measures, as well as privacy and data concerns. Moreover, the declaration affirms that the international nature of both the opportunities and risks of rapid advancements in AI calls for an international solution. To that end, the declaration calls for international cooperation in ensuring the safety of AI.
The magnitude of the Bletchley Declaration’s significance becomes apparent when looking at the countries who have agreed to this declaration. Among the notable signatories include the UK, the EU, the United States (US), and China.
Critical to note here is China, a country which has consistently found itself operating outside of the so-called rules-based world order. The reasons for this are twofold. First, there are differing philosophical traditions on which China and the Western world are founded. Second, there are ongoing geopolitical and economic tensions, exacerbated recently due to China’s exponential rise in global influence. These factors have contributed to mistrust and competition based on divergent values, exemplified in June 2023 when it was reported that US president Joe Biden announced that he would tighten export controls on AI chip sales to China, following a similar announcement that he made in October 2022.
Therefore, a prominent challenge towards any effective international cooperative effort towards regulating AI must be sensitive to the varying philosophical and cultural perspectives that exist between China and the West. This makes any step forward entranced in complexity (which I plan to explore in my forthcoming research project for QMIND), but this is also what makes the 2023 AI Safety Summit, and in particular the Bletchley Declaration, such a monumental achievement.
For instance, in what was called a moment of symbolic unity, Michelle Donelan, the UK Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, Gina Raimondo, the US Secretary of Commerce, and Wu Zhaohui, a Vice Minister of Science and Technology for China, all opened the summit together, with three three represented countries also signing the Bletchley Declaration.
This declaration included many ideological affirmations towards regulating the rapid advancement of AI. What this signals, therefore, is a remarkable consensus, which marks a point-of-no-return towards a global commitment to regulate AI. What follows in practice, however, should be watched carefully.
References
- Government of the United Kingdom. 2023. “AI Safety Summit.” AISS 2023. https://www.aisafetysummit.gov.uk.
- Government of the United Kingdom. 2023. “The Bletchley Declaration by Countries Attending the AI Safety Summit, 1–2 November 2023.” gov.uk. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ai-safety-summit-2023-the-bletchley-declaration/the-bletchley-declaration-by-countries-attending-the-ai-safety-summit-1-2-november-2023.
- Martin, Eric, and Jenny Leonard. 2023. “US is planning new AI chip export controls aimed at Nvidia.” Australian Financial Review. https://www.afr.com/technology/us-is-planning-new-ai-chip-export-controls-aimed-at-nvidia-20230629-p5dkad.
- OECDpublishing. 2023. “G7 Hiroshima Process on Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI): Towards a G7 Common Understanding on Generative AI | READ Online.” oecd-ilibrary.org. https://read.oecd-ilibrary.org/science-and-technology/g7-hiroshima-process-on-generative-artificial-intelligence-ai_bf3c0c60-en.
- ÓhÉigeartaigh, Seán S., et al. 2020. “Overcoming Barriers to Cross-Cultural Cooperation in AI Ethics and Governance. Philosophy & Technology 33(4): 571–93.
- Stacey, Kiran, and Dan Milmo. 2023. “UK, US, EU and China Sign Declaration of AI’s ‘Catastrophic’ Danger.” The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/nov/01/uk-us-eu-and-china-sign-declaration-of-ais-catastrophic-danger?.
