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
Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech r ...
(AI) models, also called
frontier AI models.
AI safety
AI is artificial intelligence, intellectual ability in machines and robots.
Ai, AI or A.I. may also refer to:
Animals
* Ai (chimpanzee), an individual experimental subject in Japan
* Ai (sloth) or the pale-throated sloth, northern Amazonian ma ...
gained prominence in 2023, notably with
public declarations about potential
existential risks from AI. During the
AI Safety Summit in November 2023, the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US) both created their own AISI. During the
AI Seoul Summit in May 2024, international leaders agreed to form a network of AI Safety Institutes, comprising institutes from the UK, the US, Japan, France, Germany, Italy, Singapore, South Korea, Australia, Canada and the European Union.
Timeline
In 2023,
Rishi Sunak
Rishi Sunak (; born 12 May 1980) is a British politician who has served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party since October 2022. He previously held two cabinet positions under Boris Johnson, lastly as ...
, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, expressed his intention to "make the U.K. not just the intellectual home but the geographical home of global AI safety regulation" and unveiled plans for an AI Safety Summit. He emphasized the need for independent safety evaluations, stating that AI companies cannot "mark their own homework". During the summit in November 2023, the UK AISI was officially established as an evolution of the ''Frontier
AI Taskforce'',
and the US AISI as part of the
NIST
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 physical sc ...
. Japan followed by launching an AI safety institute in February 2024.
Politico
''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American, German-owned political journalism newspaper company based in Arlington County, Virginia, that covers politics and policy in the United States and intern ...
reported in April 2024 that many AI companies had not shared pre-deployment access to their most advanced AI models for evaluation.
Meta
Meta (from the Greek μετά, '' meta'', meaning "after" or "beyond") is a prefix meaning "more comprehensive" or "transcending".
In modern nomenclature, ''meta''- can also serve as a prefix meaning self-referential, as a field of study or ende ...
's president of global affairs
Nick Clegg
Sir Nicholas William Peter Clegg (born 7 January 1967) is a British media executive and former Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom who has been president for global affairs at Meta Platforms since 2022, having previously been vicepre ...
said that many AI companies were waiting for the UK and the US AI Safety Institutes to work out common evaluation rules and procedures. An agreement was indeed concluded between the UK and the US in April 2024 to collaborate on at least one joint safety test. Initially established in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, the UK AI Safety Institute announced in May 2024 that it would open an office in
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
, where many AI companies are located. This is part of a plan to "set new, international standards on AI safety", according to UK's technology minister
Michele Donelan.
At the
AI Seoul Summit in May 2024, the European Union and other countries agreed to create their own AI safety institutes, forming an international network.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom founded in April 2023 a safety organisation called ''Frontier
AI Taskforce'', with an initial budget of £100 million. In November 2023, it evolved into the UK AISI, and continued to be led by
Ian Hogarth
Ian Hogarth is the co-founder and chairman of Songkick.
Hogarth studied Artificial Intelligence at the University of Cambridge.
Songkick
Hogarth founded live music startup Songkick with friends Michelle You and Pete Smith in 2007. Smith and Ho ...
. The AISI is part of the United Kingdom's
Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.
The United Kingdom's AI strategy aims to balance safety and innovation. Unlike the European Union which adopted the
AI Act
The Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act) is a proposed regulation by the European Commission which aims to introduce a common regulatory and legal framework for artificial intelligence. Its scope encompasses all sectors (except for military), and t ...
, the UK is reluctant to legislate early, considering that it may lower the sector's growth, and that laws might be rendered obsolete by technological progress.
In May 2024, the institute open-sourced an AI safety tool called "Inspect", which evaluates AI model capabilities such as reasoning and their degree of autonomy.
United States
The US AISI was founded in November 2023 as part of the
NIST
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 physical sc ...
. This happened the day after the signature of the
. In February 2024, Joe Biden's former economic policy adviser Elizabeth Kelly was appointed to lead it.
In February 2024, the US government created the US AI Safety Institute Consortium (AISIC), regrouping more than 200 organizations such as
Google
Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...
,