The AI Seoul Summit 2024 was an international conference held in May 2024, co-hosted by the governments of South Korea and the United Kingdom. It served as the second major global meeting dedicated to artificial intelligence safety and governance, following the AI Safety Summit in November 2023. The event brought together heads of state, ministers, technology executives, and international organizations to address the opportunities and risks associated with rapidly advancing AI technologies.
The summit produced several key outcomes, including the Seoul Declaration for Safe, Innovative and Inclusive AI, adopted by leaders from multiple countries, and the Seoul Ministerial Statement, which outlined commitments to enhance AI safety, innovation, and inclusivity. These documents built upon earlier international efforts, such as the Bletchley Declaration, and aimed to establish interoperable governance frameworks for AI development.
Background
The AI Seoul Summit was the second in a series of global meetings on AI safety, following the AI Safety Summit hosted by the United Kingdom in November 2023. At the earlier meeting, participating countries adopted the Bletchley Declaration, which prioritized identifying AI safety risks of shared concern. The Seoul Summit extended this agenda by recognizing the broader importance of AI, including its potential for innovation and economic growth, while maintaining a focus on safety.
The summit was co-hosted by South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. It was scheduled as a two-day event, with a leaders' session on the first day and a ministerial meeting on the second. The location in Seoul underscored South Korea's growing role in AI policy and its ambitions to become a hub for AI research and development.
Notable Attendees
The summit attracted leaders from Group of Seven countries, including the United States, Canada, France, and Germany, as well as South Korea, Singapore, and Australia. Representatives from international bodies such as the United Nations, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and the European Union also participated.
Technology industry leaders were prominent among the attendees. Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, attended, as did Lee Jae-yong, Chairman of Samsung Electronics. Representatives from major AI companies, including OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, and Meta, were present. Naver, South Korea's leading portal operator, also sent representatives. The presence of these industry figures highlighted the close collaboration between governments and the private sector in shaping AI policy.
South Korean AI Safety Center
A significant announcement at the summit was South Korea's commitment to establish a domestic AI safety research center. Minister of Science and ICT Lee Jong-ho stated that South Korea planned to open an AI Safety Institute in 2024. The center was intended to join an international network of similar institutions to boost global AI safety.
Lee Jong-ho also expressed South Korea's intention to strengthen cooperation on developing international standards for AI. This move positioned South Korea as an active participant in global AI governance, complementing efforts by other nations to create dedicated safety bodies. The establishment of the center was seen as a step toward institutionalizing AI safety research in Asia.
Seoul Declaration for Safe, Innovative and Inclusive AI
The Seoul Declaration was the summit's primary outcome, adopted by leaders from the European Union, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore. The declaration committed signatories to fostering international cooperation on AI governance frameworks that are interoperable between countries.
A key element of the declaration was the integration of the Hiroshima Process International Code of Conduct for Organizations Developing Advanced AI Systems. This code, developed under Japan's G7 presidency, provided voluntary guidance for AI developers. The Seoul Declaration also advocated for the development of human-centric AI, emphasizing collaboration with the private sector, academia, and civil society to ensure that AI benefits are widely shared.
The declaration recognized both the potential of AI to address global challenges and the need for safeguards against misuse. It called for continued dialogue and cooperation among governments to align regulatory approaches, reducing fragmentation in the global AI policy landscape.
Seoul Ministerial Statement for Advancing AI Safety
Alongside the leaders' declaration, ministers adopted the Seoul Ministerial Statement, a joint statement calling for improvements in the safety, innovation, and inclusivity of AI technologies. The statement was signed by ministers from 27 countries, including Australia, Canada, Chile, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, the Netherlands, Nigeria, New Zealand, the Philippines, South Korea, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States, as well as a representative from the European Union.
The ministerial statement addressed a range of issues, including the need to develop low-power chips as the AI industry expands and energy consumption is expected to rise. This focus on hardware efficiency reflected growing concerns about the environmental impact of large-scale AI training and deployment. The statement also emphasized the importance of international cooperation in research and standard-setting.
Global AI Summit Series
The AI Seoul Summit was part of a broader series of international meetings on AI governance. The series began with the AI Safety Summit in Bletchley Park, UK, in November 2023, and continued with subsequent events. The next major gathering, the AI Action Summit, was planned to be held in France, continuing the momentum generated by the Bletchley and Seoul meetings.
This series of summits represented an unprecedented level of diplomatic engagement with AI policy. Unlike earlier efforts focused on specific applications, such as autonomous weapons or data privacy, these summits addressed AI as a general-purpose technology with wide-ranging implications. The summits aimed to create a shared understanding of risks and to develop common principles for governance, though implementation remained largely voluntary.
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The content of this article is based on publicly available information about the AI Seoul Summit 2024, including official statements and press coverage from the event.