Democracy in the world
The AI governance landscape
Why is regulating AI complex?
- The speed and unpredictability of change poses problems for traditional lawmaking processes. For instance, few people predicted that generative AI would begin to automate creative industries so soon.
As the United Kingdom (UK) holds the first-of-its-kind AI Safety Summit on 1-2 November 2023, the need for democratic responses to the transformative impact of AI grows stronger.
The debate around catastrophic risk from frontier AI
The UK AI Safety Summit has a focus on risks from frontier AI systems – the potential for increasingly powerful AI systems to cause catastrophic impacts on society.
The Centre for AI Safety categorises catastrophic risk as follows, with examples:
The promises of AI are vast. Harnessed effectively, it can transform sectors and contribute to global productivity and prosperity. However, progress is accelerating at a speed far outstripping democratic processes and controls. With this comes risks to society and democracy and potentially loss of human control over AI. In democracies, we are not yet set up to address these safety concerns.
The promises of AI are vast. Harnessed effectively, it can transform sectors and contribute to global productivity and prosperity. However, progress is accelerating at a speed far outstripping democratic processes and controls. With this comes risks to society and democracy and potentially loss of human control over AI. In democracies, we are not yet set up to address these safety concerns.
The introduction of new technology into society is inherently political. Democracies worldwide will need to project a clear vision of AI governance and safety and make a public, positive case for how they will approach the transformative changes that AI is already bringing. What are the priorities?
AI can offer substantial benefits for democratic systems:
AI is a once-in-a-generation technology shift, potentially on par with electricity as a general-purpose tool that will transform lives across the globe.