Safe and Ethical AI (SEA) Platform Network · Linking Artificial Intelligence Principles (LAIP)

· Consensus Statement on Red Lines in Artificial Intelligence

Unsafe development, deployment, or use of AI systems may pose catastrophic or even existential risks to humanity within our lifetimes. These risks from misuse and loss of control could increase greatly as digital intelligence approaches or even surpasses human intelligence. In the depths of the Cold War, international scientific and governmental coordination helped avert thermonuclear catastrophe. Humanity again needs to coordinate to avert a catastrophe that could arise from unprecedented technology. In this consensus statement, we propose red lines in AI development as an international coordination mechanism, including the following non exhaustive list. At future International Dialogues we will build on this list in response to this rapidly developing technology.

Principle: IDAIS-Beijing, May 10, 2024

Published by IDAIS (International Dialogues on AI Safety)

Related Principles

(Conclusion)

Taking into consideration the principles above, the 40th International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners calls for common governance principles on artificial intelligence to be established, fostering concerted international efforts in this field, in order to ensure that its development and use take place in accordance with ethics and human values, and respect human dignity. These common governance principles must be able to tackle the challenges raised by the rapid evolutions of artificial intelligence technologies, on the basis of a multi stakeholder approach in order to address all cross sectoral issues at stake. They must take place at an international level since the development of artificial intelligence is a trans border phenomenon and may affect all humanity. The Conference should be involved in this international effort, working with and supporting general and sectoral authorities in other fields such as competition, market and consumer regulation.

Published by 40th International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners (ICDPPC) in Declaration On Ethics And Data Protection In Artifical Intelligence, Oct 23, 2018

(preamble)

"Coordinated global action on AI safety research and governance is critical to prevent uncontrolled frontier AI development from posing unacceptable risks to humanity." Global action, cooperation, and capacity building are key to managing risk from AI and enabling humanity to share in its benefits. AI safety is a global public good that should be supported by public and private investment, with advances in safety shared widely. Governments around the world — especially of leading AI nations — have a responsibility to develop measures to prevent worst case outcomes from malicious or careless actors and to rein in reckless competition. The international community should work to create an international coordination process for advanced AI in this vein.

Published by IDAIS (International Dialogues on AI Safety) in IDAIS-Oxford, Oct 31, 2023

· Consensus Statement on AI Safety as a Global Public Good

Rapid advances in artificial intelligence (AI) systems’ capabilities are pushing humanity closer to a world where AI meets and surpasses human intelligence. Experts agree these AI systems are likely to be developed in the coming decades, with many of them believing they will arrive imminently. Loss of human control or malicious use of these AI systems could lead to catastrophic outcomes for all of humanity. Unfortunately, we have not yet developed the necessary science to control and safeguard the use of such advanced intelligence. The global nature of these risks from AI makes it necessary to recognize AI safety as a global public good, and work towards global governance of these risks. Collectively, we must prepare to avert the attendant catastrophic risks that could arrive at any time. Promising initial steps by the international community show cooperation on AI safety and governance is achievable despite geopolitical tensions. States and AI developers around the world committed to foundational principles to foster responsible development of AI and minimize risks at two intergovernmental summits. Thanks to these summits, states established AI Safety Institutes or similar institutions to advance testing, research and standards setting. These efforts are laudable and must continue. States must sufficiently resource AI Safety Institutes, continue to convene summits and support other global governance efforts. However, states must go further than they do today. As an initial step, states should develop authorities to detect and respond to AI incidents and catastrophic risks within their jurisdictions. These domestic authorities should coordinate to develop a global contingency plan to respond to severe AI incidents and catastrophic risks. In the longer term, states should develop an international governance regime to prevent the development of models that could pose global catastrophic risks. Deep and foundational research needs to be conducted to guarantee the safety of advanced AI systems. This work must begin swiftly to ensure they are developed and validated prior to the advent of advanced AIs. To enable this, we call on states to carve out AI safety as a cooperative area of academic and technical activity, distinct from broader geostrategic competition on development of AI capabilities. The international community should consider setting up three clear processes to prepare for a world where advanced AI systems pose catastrophic risks:

Published by IDAIS (International Dialogues on AI Safety) in IDAIS-Venice, Sept 5, 2024

3. Principle of controllability

Developers should pay attention to the controllability of AI systems. [Comment] In order to assess the risks related to the controllability of AI systems, it is encouraged that developers make efforts to conduct verification and validation in advance. One of the conceivable methods of risk assessment is to conduct experiments in a closed space such as in a laboratory or a sandbox in which security is ensured, at a stage before the practical application in society. In addition, in order to ensure the controllability of AI systems, it is encouraged that developers pay attention to whether the supervision (such as monitoring or warnings) and countermeasures (such as system shutdown, cut off from networks, or repairs) by humans or other trustworthy AI systems are effective, to the extent possible in light of the characteristics of the technologies to be adopted. [Note] Verification and validation are methods for evaluating and controlling risks in advance. Generally, the former is used for confirming formal consistency, while the latter is used for confirming substantial validity. (See, e.g., The Future of Life Institute (FLI), Research Priorities for Robust and Beneficial Artificial Intelligence (2015)). [Note] Examples of what to see in the risk assessment are risks of reward hacking in which AI systems formally achieve the goals assigned but substantially do not meet the developer's intents, and risks that AI systems work in ways that the developers have not intended due to the changes of their outputs and programs in the process of the utilization with their learning, etc. For reward hacking, see, e.g., Dario Amodei, Chris Olah, Jacob Steinhardt, Paul Christiano, John Schulman & Dan Mané, Concrete Problems in AI Safety, arXiv: 1606.06565 [cs.AI] (2016).

Published by Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC), the Government of Japan in AI R&D Principles, Jul 28, 2017

PREAMBLE

For the first time in human history, it is possible to create autonomous systems capable of performing complex tasks of which natural intelligence alone was thought capable: processing large quantities of information, calculating and predicting, learning and adapting responses to changing situations, and recognizing and classifying objects. Given the immaterial nature of these tasks, and by analogy with human intelligence, we designate these wide ranging systems under the general name of artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence constitutes a major form of scientific and technological progress, which can generate considerable social benefits by improving living conditions and health, facilitating justice, creating wealth, bolstering public safety, and mitigating the impact of human activities on the environment and the climate. Intelligent machines are not limited to performing better calculations than human beings; they can also interact with sentient beings, keep them company and take care of them. However, the development of artificial intelligence does pose major ethical challenges and social risks. Indeed, intelligent machines can restrict the choices of individuals and groups, lower living standards, disrupt the organization of labor and the job market, influence politics, clash with fundamental rights, exacerbate social and economic inequalities, and affect ecosystems, the climate and the environment. Although scientific progress, and living in a society, always carry a risk, it is up to the citizens to determine the moral and political ends that give meaning to the risks encountered in an uncertain world. The lower the risks of its deployment, the greater the benefits of artificial intelligence will be. The first danger of artificial intelligence development consists in giving the illusion that we can master the future through calculations. Reducing society to a series of numbers and ruling it through algorithmic procedures is an old pipe dream that still drives human ambitions. But when it comes to human affairs, tomorrow rarely resembles today, and numbers cannot determine what has moral value, nor what is socially desirable. The principles of the current declaration are like points on a moral compass that will help guide the development of artificial intelligence towards morally and socially desirable ends. They also offer an ethical framework that promotes internationally recognized human rights in the fields affected by the rollout of artificial intelligence. Taken as a whole, the principles articulated lay the foundation for cultivating social trust towards artificially intelligent systems. The principles of the current declaration rest on the common belief that human beings seek to grow as social beings endowed with sensations, thoughts and feelings, and strive to fulfill their potential by freely exercising their emotional, moral and intellectual capacities. It is incumbent on the various public and private stakeholders and policymakers at the local, national and international level to ensure that the development and deployment of artificial intelligence are compatible with the protection of fundamental human capacities and goals, and contribute toward their fuller realization. With this goal in mind, one must interpret the proposed principles in a coherent manner, while taking into account the specific social, cultural, political and legal contexts of their application.

Published by University of Montreal in The Montreal Declaration for a Responsible Development of Artificial Intelligence, Dec 4, 2018