# AI Safety Summit 2023

The AI Safety Summit 2023 was an international conference on AI safety and regulation, organized by the British government and held in November 2023 at Bletchley Park, Milton Keynes, England. It produced the Bletchley Declaration, a global agreement on managing AI risks.

The AI Safety Summit 2023 was an international conference on the safety and regulation of artificial intelligence. Organized by the British government, it was held in November 2023 at Bletchley Park, Milton Keynes, England. The event was the first ever global summit on artificial intelligence, bringing together government representatives, technology executives, and researchers to discuss the risks and governance of advanced AI systems.

The summit resulted in the Bletchley Declaration, an agreement signed by 28 countries, including the United States, China, Australia, and the European Union. The declaration focused on "identifying AI safety risks of shared concern" and "building respective risk-based policies" to "ensure that the benefits of the technology can be harnessed responsibly for good and for all." It affirmed that AI should be designed, developed, deployed, and used in a manner that is safe, human-centric, trustworthy, and responsible.

## Background

The prime minister of the United Kingdom at the time, Rishi Sunak, made AI one of the priorities of his government. In early 2023, he announced that the UK would host a global AI safety conference in autumn of that year. The announcement came amid rapid advances in [large-language-model](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/large-language-model) technology, including the release of [GPT-4](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/gpt-4) by [OpenAI](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/openai) and the proliferation of [generative-ai](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/generative-ai) tools, which heightened public and governmental concern about potential risks.

The UK government positioned itself as a leader in AI safety discussions, aiming to create an international forum for dialogue. The summit was designed to bring together a diverse set of stakeholders, including governments, academia, and industry, to address both near-term risks, such as misuse for terrorism or criminal activity, and long-term existential risks to humanity.

## Venue

Bletchley Park, located in the British city of Milton Keynes, served as the venue for the summit. The site was a World War II codebreaking facility established by the British government on the grounds of a Victorian manor. It played an important role in the history of computing, with some of the first modern computers, including the Colossus, being built there to decrypt German messages.

Choosing Bletchley Park was symbolic, linking the summit to the UK's historical contributions to computing and cryptography. The venue also underscored the theme of collective effort in addressing technological challenges, echoing the wartime codebreakers' collaboration.

## Outcomes

The primary outcome was the Bletchley Declaration, which called for international cooperation to manage the challenges and risks of artificial intelligence. The declaration emphasized the need for safe, human-centric, trustworthy, and responsible AI development. It also highlighted the importance of regulating "Frontier AI," a term referring to the latest and most powerful AI systems, such as advanced [neural-network](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/neural-network) models.

Concerns raised at the summit included the potential use of AI for terrorism, criminal activity, and warfare, as well as existential risk posed to humanity as a whole. Delegates discussed the need for robust safety measures, transparency, and accountability in AI development.

In parallel, the president of the United States, Joe Biden, signed an executive order requiring AI developers to share safety results with the US government. The order also led to the creation of an American AI Safety Institute, as part of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, to support research and standards for AI safety.

## Notable attendees

The summit attracted high-level participants from government and industry. Notable attendees included:

- Rishi Sunak, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
- Kamala Harris, Vice President of the United States
- Charles III, King of the United Kingdom (attending virtually)
- Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, owner of X, SpaceX, Neuralink, and xAI
- Giorgia Meloni, Prime Minister of Italy
- Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission
- Sam Altman, CEO of [OpenAI](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/openai)
- Nick Clegg, former British politician and president of global affairs at Meta Platforms
- Mustafa Suleyman, co-founder of [Google DeepMind](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/google-deepmind)
- Michelle Donelan, UK secretary of state for Science, Innovation and Technology
- Věra Jourová, the European Commission's vice-president for Values and Transparency
- Gina Raimondo, United States secretary of commerce
- Wu Zhaohui, Chinese vice-minister of science and technology

On 2 November, Elon Musk and Rishi Sunak conducted a live interview on AI safety, broadcast on X, where they discussed the potential benefits and risks of AI, including existential threats and the need for regulation.

## Global AI Summit series

The AI Safety Summit 2023 was the first in a planned series of global summits on AI safety. The event established a framework for ongoing international dialogue, with subsequent summits anticipated to build on the Bletchley Declaration. The series aims to foster continued cooperation among nations to address the evolving challenges of AI, ensuring that the technology's benefits are realized while mitigating its risks.

## References

1. AI Safety Summit 2023 - Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)

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Source: https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/ai-safety-summit-2023
License: CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)
Last updated: 2026-09-13T03:50:30.954515+00:00