The AI summit was a good first step – but we must be vigilant about the dangers of artificial intelligence

Editorial: There is a general election coming next year, which will collide with AI, deepfakes and sophisticated fake news for the first time. Are we prepared to meet the challenges this technology poses?

3 November 2023 (Dave Brown)

Artificial intelligence (AI) presents enormous global opportunities: it has the potential to transform and enhance human wellbeing, peace and prosperity. To realise this, we affirm that, for the good of all, AI should be designed, developed, deployed and used, in a manner that is safe, in such a way as to be human-centric, trustworthy and responsible.”

The first words of the historic Bletchley Declaration represent a breakthrough in international diplomacy, bringing the cooperative habits and conventions of a rules-based system to this powerful new technology for the first time.

The AI summit chaired by the prime minister that brought forth the declaration has been a remarkable achievement – crowned, appropriately, by an agenda-setting address by the King, and concluding with a filmed dialogue between Rishi Sunak and Elon Musk. With the summit being held in the evocative surroundings of Bletchley Park, where Alan Turing did so much of his pioneering work on computing, the proceedings have a heady atmosphere.