A picture of AI applications in factories. A robot interacts with a factory worker and machinery. France’s AI Action Summit vows to make Europe the ‘leading AI continent’.
Credit: Shutterstock, Summit Art Creations
Vive la révolution… in artificial intelligence! France is rolling out the red carpet for the AI Action Summit on February 10 and 11, determined to catapult Europe onto the world stage as the ‘leading AI continent.’ It’s a bold bid to keep the Old Continent at the cutting edge of this booming technology – while keeping a tight grip on ethics.
Following in the footsteps of the UK’s star-studded Artificial Intelligence Safety Summit at Bletchley Park in November 2023 and South Korea’s blockbuster event in Seoul last May, the French are hoping their gathering of heads of state, international organisations and major businesses will be the pièce de résistance. According to official minutes, the big goal is ensuring ‘respect for fundamental values’ while building more trust in AI systems. Or, to put it plainly, they want to make sure our future robot overlords behave themselves.
Europe to rule AI
France’s two-day chinwag fest aims to show that the EU is ready to lead the way in harnessing AI – without letting the technology run amok. Attendees will pore over the summit’s three main deliverables:
- Launch a global platform for AI capacity building.
- Stimulate information, standards and investment for sustainable AI.
- Clarify all existing global and bilateral initiatives.
Taking centre stage will be five working groups, each led by a different AI-loving nation:
• Public Interest AI (Brazil and Morocco).
• Future of Work (Italy).
• Innovation and Culture (European Commission).
• Trust in AI (South Korea and the UK).
• Global governance of AI (India and Canada).
AI summit mania: from Bletchley to Seoul
The French bash is the latest in a global AI summit frenzy. Last November, the UK’s Bletchley Park extravaganza birthed a ‘world-first’ agreement on AI, with leaders shaking hands on the dangers of ‘catastrophic’ AI risks – think of it as the High-Tech Horror Show no one wants to see. Meanwhile, in Seoul, the EU, UK, US, Japan and Canada pledged to create more AI safety institutes to hammer out standards for machine learning and testing.
Brussels’ AI Act: coming soon
As the EU muscles in on this grand tech stage, the European Commission is getting its new AI office into gear – fresh off the back of the EU AI Act’s adoption last year. The office is destined to be the ‘centre of AI expertise’ throughout the bloc, taking the lead in enforcing the world’s first set of rules designed to regulate AI systems based on their risk to society. The entire shebang goes live in 2027, although some rules- like obligations for general-purpose AI models – will already kick in this August.
So, watch out Silicon Valley: Europe’s flexing its AI muscles. With France hosting next month’s summit, the Continent is ready to show the world it can go from escargot to escar-GO in this global race for AI supremacy- without leaving its lofty principles behind. Let the AI showdown commence.
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