Foreign Secretary to call for international cooperation to manage the global implications of Artificial Intelligence
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly will chair first ever United Nations Security Council (UNSC) session on Artificial Intelligence (AI).
- global cooperation will be vital to ensure AI technologies and the rules governing their use are developed responsibly in a way that benefits society
- UNSC session comes ahead of first ever global AI safety summit in the UK later this year
As a permanent member of the UNSC and current Presidency holder for the month of July, the UK will today (18 July) chair the first ever briefing session on Artificial Intelligence (AI) at the UNSC.
Taking place in the Security Council Chamber in New York, the high-level briefing will discuss the potential implications of AI on international peace and security and how to promote its safe and responsible use.
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly will chair the session, and invite remarks from António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, Jack Clark, co-founder of leading AI company Anthropic, and Professor Zeng Yi, Director of the Brain-inspired Cognitive Intelligence Lab and co-Director of the China-UK Research Center for AI Ethics and Governance.
During the session Foreign Secretary James Cleverly is expected to say:
No country will be untouched by AI, so we must involve and engage the widest coalition of international actors from all sectors.
The UK is home to many of the world’s trail-blazing AI developers and foremost AI safety researchers.
So this autumn the UK plans to bring world leaders together for the first major global summit on AI safety.
Our shared goal will be to consider the risks of AI and decide how they can be reduced through coordinated action.
Momentous opportunities – on a scale that we can barely imagine – lie before us.
We must seize these opportunities and grasp the challenges of AI – including those for international peace and security – decisively, optimistically and from a position of global unity on essential principles.
Rapid developments in AI technologies have the capacity to fundamentally transform our societies and the way we live and work. Global cooperation will be vital to ensure AI technologies and the rules governing their use are developed responsibly in a way that benefits society.
Secretary of State for Science, Innovation, and Technology, Chloe Smith, said:
The UK chairing the first ever briefing session on AI at the United Nations Security Council is an important milestone – of all the many issues discussed in the Council Chamber over the years, AI is among the most profound.
We are at the heart of the global conversation on AI. Later this year, the UK will host the first major global summit on AI safety to agree targeted, rapid, internationally coordinated action, allowing us to safely realise the huge opportunities of artificial intelligence.
AI can help grow our economy and deliver better public services, and working with our global partners will ensure the right guardrails are in place for its safe and responsible development.
Last month, the Prime Minister announced the UK will host the first major global summit on AI safety. The summit will consider the risks of AI, particularly at the frontier of the technology, and discuss how they can be mitigated through internationally coordinated action. It will also provide a platform for countries to work together on further developing a shared approach to mitigate these risks.
The UK is a world leader in AI and well-placed to convene discussions on the future of AI – ranking third globally across several metrics. Our AI sector is estimated to contribute £3.7 billion in gross value added (GVA) to the UK economy and employs over 50,000 people, developing AI solutions across all sectors of the UK economy.
We have a long history of UK leadership in AI. In 2016, the UK initiated an international discussion on AI principles with G7 counterparts, paving the way for the 2019 OECD AI Recommendations and in 2020, the UK supported the launch of the Global Partnership on AI (GPAI), becoming a founding member. Following the publication of the National AI Strategy in September 2021, the UK published the AI Regulation White Paper in March 2023, setting out a context-based, proportionate and adaptable approach to regulating AI.
Most recently, the UK has launched an expert Foundation Model Taskforce to drive forward the safe and reliable development of Foundation Models while seizing the extraordinary opportunities they present. The Taskforce is backed by an initial £100 million of funding. A key focus for the Taskforce in the coming months will be taking forward cutting-edge safety research in the run up to the first global summit on AI safety to be hosted in the UK this autumn.
Background
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the UK-led UNSC session will be live streamed on UN Web TV. This is due to take place from 3pm to 4:30pm (British Summer Time)
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read the Foreign Secretary’s remarks at the UNSC session, available on GOV.UK
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the strategy builds on the UK’s strengths but also represents the start of a step-change for AI in the UK, recognising the power of AI to increase resilience, productivity, growth and innovation across the private and public sectors
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the UK’s International Technology Strategy (ITS) was jointly launched by the Foreign Secretary and DSIT Secretary of State in March 2023. The ITS sets out the UK’s approach for technology leadership on the global stage, particularly how the UK will work to ensure that technologies are used to promote freedom and opportunity.
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Last updated 18 July 2023 + show all updates
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Link to the Foreign Secretary's speech at the UN Security Council added.
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First published.