AI Safety Summit opening day agenda revealed

Together, they will discuss the risks emerging from rapid advances in AI, before exploring the transformative opportunities the technology has to offer – including in education and areas for international research collaborations. 

AI holds enormous potential to power economic growth, drive scientific progress and deliver wider public benefits, but there are potential safety risks from Frontier AI if not developed responsibly.

Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan will open the Summit by welcoming attendees and setting out the government’s vision for safety and security to be at the heart of advances in AI, to enable the opportunities it will bring.

She’ll be joined by members of the UK’s Frontier AI Taskforce – including its Chair, Ian Hogarth – which was launched earlier this year to evaluate the risks of frontier AI models, and by representatives from nations at the cutting-edge of AI development.

The focus of the AI Safety Summit is on frontier AI. These are the most advanced generation of highly capable AI models, most often foundation models, that could exhibit dangerous capabilities. It is at the frontier where the risks are most urgent given how fast it is evolving, but also where the vast promise of the future economy lies.

The first half of the day will be dedicated to parallel sessions on understanding frontier AI risks, ranging from potential threats to national security to the dangers a loss of control could bring. Given AI can have more diffuse impacts on society too, discussions will also be held on issues including election disruption, erosion of social trust, and exacerbating global inequalities.

The second part of the day will kick off with roundtable discussions on improving frontier AI safety to unleash its opportunity responsibly. Delegates will consider how risk thresholds, effective safety assessments, and robust governance and accountability mechanisms can be defined to enable the safe scaling of frontier AI by developers.

They will also look at what national policymakers, the international community, and scientists and researchers can do to manage the risks and harness the opportunities of AI to deliver economic and social benefits around the world.

The day will end with a panel discussion on the transformative opportunities of AI for public good now and in the long-term, with a focus on how it can be used by teachers and students to revolutionise education, before Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan wraps up Day One with closing remarks to delegates.

Just last month the government set out further detail of its ambitions for the event, including making sure there is global consensus on the risks emerging from the most immediate and rapid advances in the technology and how they are managed. This is part of the UK Government making the long-term decisions that change the country for the better.

That’s why the Summit will for the first time bring together international governments, industry experts, academics, and civil society representatives. 

Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, Michelle Donelan, said: “We are setting out a focused plan for the AI Safety Summit to face up to the risks of frontier AI, so together with our partners around the world we can reap the enormous benefits this transformative technology has to offer.

“AI presents an immense opportunity to drive economic growth and transformative breakthroughs in medicine, clean energy, and education. Tackling the risk of AI misuse, so we can adopt this technology safely, needs global collaboration.

“By bringing together leading nations, companies, academics and civil society at Bletchley Park next month, the UK is leading the conversation about creating a safe, positive future with AI.”