SINGAPORE: Countries developing and deploying “frontier AI” must cooperate for the sake of mutual security, despite the inevitable competition, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Thursday (Nov 2) after joining world leaders virtually at the inaugural global AI safety summit.
The first wave of mainstream AI applications like ChatGPT are often called frontier AI.
The release of ChatGPT and other generative AI systems, which are capable of quickly producing text, images and audio from simple commands in everyday language, have captivated the public and offered a glimpse into the potential of the technology.
But they have also prompted concerns around issues ranging from job losses to cyberattacks and the control that humans actually have over the systems.
“No one benefits when AI systems go rogue,” Mr Lee said in a Facebook post on Thursday.
“Countries will ultimately need to establish some global understanding to make AI systems safer, and avoid AI creating strategic risks and instability,” he added.
Mr Lee discussed emerging AI issues during the leaders’ session of the summit.
He noted that the field of AI is “developing rapidly, transforming lives while raising deep ethical questions”.
“We need to improve our understanding of ethical AI and how to promote it,” Mr Lee said in his Facebook post. “Be it decisions made by self-driving cars or doctors relying on AI-generated diagnoses, the AI systems must be imbued with human context and human values.”
Singapore welcomes the UK’s new AI Safety Institute and its cooperation with Singapore on safety testing, he said.
“Singapore has taken some small steps, such as introducing testing toolkits like AI Verify and evaluation sandboxes to mitigate these risks.”
Mr Lee added that all stakeholders should participate in shaping the rules and safeguards governing AI.
“While the main players are American, Chinese, and European, this conversation on AI safety cannot just be amongst the few.”
Singapore also participates in AI research and deployment, and will also be affected by the benefits as well as risks and downsides of AI, he said.
“Singapore is honoured to work with international partners so that we can all reap the benefits of AI, and make AI a force for good contributing to our common prosperity,” said Mr Lee.