Held over two days from tomorrow
Summit sessions held via video conference
President Yoon and UK Prime Minister Sunak preside
Smaller scale than the first meeting
The ‘Artificial Intelligence (AI) Seoul Summit,’ jointly hosted by the governments of Korea and the United Kingdom, is just one day away. This international event is raising expectations about whether major governments and the private sector, including big tech companies, can unite their voices for the responsible development of AI technology.
Emphasizing AI Safety, Innovation, and Inclusion
According to the Ministry of Science and ICT on the 20th, the ‘AI Seoul Summit,’ which will be held over two days starting tomorrow (21st), is expected to emphasize not only AI safety but also innovation and the spirit of inclusion. As AI technology impacts industries, society, and culture broadly, the responsible stance of governments and companies is becoming increasingly important. Governments need to establish appropriate systems to reduce side effects and damages caused by AI, while companies must develop technology in a way that improves human quality of life through fair competition.
The AI Seoul Summit is a follow-up meeting to the ‘AI Safety Summit’ held last November at Bletchley Park in the UK and consists of a ‘Leaders’ Session’ and a ‘Ministers’ Session.’ The Leaders’ Session, held from 8:30 PM to 10 PM on the 21st, will be conducted via video conference. President Yoon Suk-yeol and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will preside over the meeting. The theme is ‘Building on the AI Safety Summit towards an Innovative and Inclusive Future.’ Song Sang-hoon, Director General of the Information and Communication Policy Bureau at the Ministry of Science and ICT, stated, “We will present the three major goals of AI governance?safety, innovation, and inclusion?to the international community, expanding beyond AI safety alone.”
The Ministers’ Session will be held in person at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) from 2:20 PM to 5:40 PM on the 22nd. Minister Lee Jong-ho of the Ministry of Science and ICT and Michelle Donelan, UK Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, will serve as co-chairs. Key figures from governments, industry, academia, and civil society from more than 19 countries are expected to participate. The session will discuss establishing AI safety and sustainable AI development. It will share the status of AI safety research institutes in various countries, diagnose future AI risk factors, and explore ways to strengthen safety. Additionally, concerns about the massive power consumption associated with AI development will be addressed, with Korea’s vision for AI semiconductors, including low-power semiconductors, expected to be highlighted.
The ‘AI Global Forum,’ held as a side event on the 22nd, will run from 9 AM to 6 PM. The forum consists of a high-level roundtable in the morning and expert sessions in the afternoon. The afternoon expert sessions will be live-streamed on YouTube, allowing the general public to watch.
Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, who sparked the generative artificial intelligence (AI) boom with ChatGPT. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@
Which Industry Giants Will Attend?
As this meeting represents the global AI ecosystem, attention is focused on the participation of major industry figures.
At the first meeting last year, prominent figures such as Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla; Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI; and Mustafa Suleyman, co-founder of DeepMind, participated.
However, since this time the summit is virtual, it is expected to be smaller in scale compared to the first meeting. Also, because the third meeting, scheduled as an official in-person event, will be held in France early next year, the AI Seoul Summit is predicted to receive relatively less attention. Geoffrey Hinton, a professor at the University of Toronto known as the ‘godfather of AI,’ reportedly declined to attend due to an injury severe enough to make flying to Korea difficult. Linda Griffin, Mozilla’s Head of Public Policy and creator of the Firefox web browser, also stated she would not attend the Seoul Summit as she is focusing on the Paris event.
There is also interest in what outcomes will emerge from this Seoul Summit. At the first meeting, representatives from 28 countries including Korea, the United States, and China, along with companies, announced the ‘Bletchley Declaration’ to mitigate potential risks associated with AI technology. The Bletchley Declaration contains a commitment for countries to jointly strive to develop and use AI technology safely. Bletchley Park is known as the birthplace of computer science and was the headquarters where the British military decoded Nazi encryption during World War II. Similarly, KIST, where the ministers’ meeting will be held, is Korea’s first comprehensive government-funded research institute and the site where supercomputers were introduced, symbolizing a pivotal role in the development of domestic digital technology.
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