From Sunak to Biden, race to become global AI leader enters crucial lap

London/Washington, Oct 29

Over 100 world leaders, tech honchos, academics and researchers will gather next week in the UK to deliberate upon the risks associated with artificial intelligence (AI) and how to tackle those under the leadership of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

In the US, President Joe Biden is reportedly going to deploy numerous federal agencies to monitor the risks of AI next week and develop new uses for the technology via an executive order.

The two-day 'AI Safety Summit in the UK is likely to see US Vice President Kamala Harris; European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen; United Nations' Secretary General Antonio Guterres and many other leaders.

According to the BBC, their purpose is to take part in discussions about "how best to maximise the benefits of this powerful technology while minimising the risks."

In a recent report, the UK government listed some worrisome potential threats of AI, including bio-terrorism, cyber attacks and deepfake images of child sexual abuse. Apparently, Sunak has a plan, and it's an ambitious one to tackle AI risks.

"He wants to position the UK as the global leader for AI safety," the rpeort mentioned.

Meanwhile, Biden via an executive order is expected to "pave the way for the use of more AI in nearly every facet of life touched by the federal government, from health care to education, trade to housing, and more", reports Politico.

"Biden's order specifically directs the Federal Trade Commission, for instance, to focus on anti-competitive behaviour and consumer harms in the AI industry - a mission that Chair Lina Khan has already publicly embraced," the report mentioned.

The US Congress has "scrambled to put legislation together to tackle the risks and potential of AI". However, the US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer cautioned last week that "no broad AI bill was likely to be introduced until next year".

The Indian government is also likely to organise the first-ever 'Global India AI Summit' on December 10 that will invite global and domestic leaders in AI to deliberate about deploying AI in the same context of digital technologies to transform the lives of its citizens.

The conference is poised to cover topics like next-generation learning and foundational AI models, AI's applications in healthcare, governance, and next-gen electric vehicles, future AI research trends, AI computing systems, investment opportunities, and nurturing AI talent.