The AI Safety Summit was an international conference discussing the

safety Safety is the state of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings The word 'safety' entered the English language in the 1 ...

and

regulation of artificial intelligence Regulation of artificial intelligence is the development of public sector policies and laws for promoting and regulating artificial intelligence (AI). It is part of the broader regulation of algorithms. The regulatory and policy landscape for AI ...

. It was held at

Bletchley Park Bletchley Park is an English country house and Bletchley Park estate, estate in Bletchley, Milton Keynes (Buckinghamshire), that became the principal centre of Allies of World War II, Allied World War II cryptography, code-breaking during the S ...

Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of Milton Keynes urban area, its urban area was 264,349. The River Great Ouse forms t ...

, United Kingdom, on 1–2 November 2023. It was the first ever global summit on artificial intelligence, and is planned to become a recurring event.

Background

The prime minister of the United Kingdom at the time,

Rishi Sunak Rishi Sunak (born 12 May 1980) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 2022 to 2024. Following his defeat to Keir Starmer's La ...

, made AI one of the priorities of his government, announcing that the UK would host a global AI Safety conference in autumn 2023.

Venue

Bletchley Park was a World War II codebreaking facility established by the British government on the site of a Victorian manor and is in the British city of

. It has played an important role in the

history of computing The history of computing is longer than the history of computing hardware and modern computing technology and includes the history of methods intended for pen and paper or for chalk and slate, with or without the aid of tables. Concrete devices ...

, with some of the first modern computers being built at the facility.

Outcomes

28 countries at the summit, including the United States, China, Australia, and the European Union, have issued an agreement known as the Bletchley Declaration, calling for international co-operation to manage the challenges and risks of artificial intelligence. The Bletchley Declaration affirms that AI should be designed, developed, deployed, and used in a manner that is safe, human-centric, trustworthy and responsible. Emphasis has been placed on regulating "Frontier AI", a term for the latest and most powerful AI systems. Concerns that have been raised at the summit include the potential use of AI for terrorism, criminal activity, and warfare, as well as existential risk posed to humanity as a whole.The president of the United States,

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

, signed an executive order requiring AI developers to share safety results with the

US government The Federal Government of the United States of America (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States. The U.S. federal government is composed of three distinct branches: legislative, execut ...

. The US government also announced the creation of an American

AI Safety Institute An AI Safety Institute (AISI), in general, is a state-backed institute aiming to evaluate and ensure the safety of the most advanced artificial intelligence (AI) models, also called frontier AI models. AI safety gained prominence in 2023, notably ...

, as part of the

National Institute of Standards and Technology The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into Outline of p ...

. The tech entrepreneur

Elon Musk Elon Reeve Musk ( ; born June 28, 1971) is a businessman. He is known for his leadership of Tesla, SpaceX, X (formerly Twitter), and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Musk has been considered the wealthiest person in th ...

and Sunak did a live interview on

AI safety AI safety is an interdisciplinary field focused on preventing accidents, misuse, or other harmful consequences arising from artificial intelligence (AI) systems. It encompasses machine ethics and AI alignment, which aim to ensure AI systems are mor ...

on 2 November on X.

Notable attendees

Vice President Harris at the group photo of the 2023 AI Safety Summit

The following individuals attended the summit: *

, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom *

Kamala Harris Kamala Devi Harris ( ; born October 20, 1964) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 49th vice president of the United States from 2021 to 2025 under President Joe Biden. She is the first female, first African American, and ...

, Vice President of the United States *

Charles III Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, and ...

, King of the United Kingdom (attending virtually) *

, CEO of Tesla, owner of X,

SpaceX Space Exploration Technologies Corp., commonly referred to as SpaceX, is an America, American space technology company headquartered at the SpaceX Starbase, Starbase development site in Starbase, Texas. Since its founding in 2002, the compa ...

Neuralink Neuralink Corp. is an American transhumanist neurotechnology company that has developed, as of 2024, implantable brain–computer interfaces (BCIs), also known as brain implants. It was founded by Elon Musk and a team of eight scientists and ...

, and xAI *

Giorgia Meloni Giorgia Meloni (; born 15 January 1977) is an Italian politician who has served as Prime Minister of Italy since 2022. She is the first woman to hold the office. A member of the Chamber of Deputies (Italy), Chamber of Deputies since 2006, s ...

, Prime Minister of Italy *

Ursula von der Leyen Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen (; ; born 8 October 1958) is a German politician, serving as president of the European Commission since 2019. She served in the Cabinet of Germany, German federal government between 2005 and 2019, holding position ...

, President of the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

Sam Altman Samuel Harris Altman (born April 22, 1985) is an American technology entrepreneur, investor, and the chief executive officer of OpenAI since 2019 (he was Removal of Sam Altman from OpenAI, briefly dismissed and reinstated in November 2023). He ...

, CEO of

OpenAI OpenAI, Inc. is an American artificial intelligence (AI) organization founded in December 2015 and headquartered in San Francisco, California. It aims to develop "safe and beneficial" artificial general intelligence (AGI), which it defines ...

Nick Clegg Sir Nicholas William Peter Clegg (born 7 January 1967) is a British retired politician and media executive who served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2015 and as Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2007 to 2015. H ...

, former British politician and president of global affairs at

Meta Platforms Meta Platforms, Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Menlo Park, California. Meta owns and operates several prominent social media platforms and communication services, including Facebook, Instagram, Threads ...

*Mustafa Suleyman, co-founder of DeepMind *Michelle Donelan, UK Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, secretary of state for Science, Innovation and Technology *Věra Jourová, the European Commission’s List of European Commission portfolios#Justice and Gender Equality, vice-president for Values and Transparency *Gina Raimondo, United States Secretary of Commerce, United States secretary of commerce *Wu Zhaohui, Chinese vice-minister of Ministry of Science and Technology (China), science and technology

AI Summits

AI Summits continued in subsequent years, including: *AI Seoul Summit: hosted by South Korea on 21–22 May 2024. *AI Action Summit: held in France on 10–11 February 2025.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:AI Safety Summit, 2023 AI safety Artificial intelligence conferences 2023 conferences November 2023 in the United Kingdom Bletchley Park Regulation of artificial intelligence Premiership of Rishi Sunak