Global experts gather in Paris to focus on regulating artificial intelligence

Experts across the globe are calling for stricter regulation of artificial intelligence (AI) to prevent it from getting beyond human control. World leaders are gathering in Paris for a summit on artificial intelligence.

The meeting, co-hosted by France and India, will take place on February 10-11, AFP reported. Unlike meetings at Bletchley Park in the UK in 2023 and Seoul in South Korea in 2024, the French will focus on practical AI action in 2025, rather than solely on security issues.

France's vision is to get governments, businesses and other stakeholders to support global governance of AI and commit to promoting sustainable development, rather than directly setting binding rules.

Anne Bouverot, French President Emmanuel Macron's special envoy for AI, said: "We don't want to spend all our time talking about risks, but there are also very real opportunities that need to be looked at."

Massachusetts Institute of Technology physicist Max Tegmark, who has repeatedly warned of the dangers of AI, said France should not miss this opportunity to lead global action.

"We have identified about 300 tools and techniques to address these risks," said Cyrus Hodes, coordinator of GRASP, a global risk and AI security readiness platform. The findings will be presented to the OECD as well as members of the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI).

Experts warn that AI could get out of control and call for more regulation

On February 6, the International Artificial Intelligence Security Report, prepared by 96 experts and supported by 30 countries, the United Nations, the European Union and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), was officially released. The report notes that the rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) technology poses multiple risks ranging from online disinformation to biological and cyber attacks.

"There is growing evidence that additional risks are emerging, such as biological or cyber attacks," said Yoshua Bengio, a prominent computer scientist and coordinator of the report. He also expressed concern about the possibility of "AI runaway" in the future, meaning that AI systems may act autonomously out of their "own will to survive."

Tegmark warns: "The biggest problem right now is that many of those in power still don't realize that we're closer to AGI than we are to finding a way to control it."

AGI refers to artificial intelligence that can match or surpass humans in all areas. Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, has predicted that AGI could be achieved within a few years.

"The worst case scenario is that these American or Chinese companies lose control of this technology, and then the planet is ruled by machines," Tegmark said.

Stuart Russell, a professor of computer science at the University of California, Berkeley, said he is most concerned about AI-controlled weapons systems being able to autonomously decide where and when to attack.