The boss of Google's artificial intelligence arm DeepMind has told a major tech conference in London that there are both risks and opportunities with the advancement of AI.
Demis Hassabis told hundreds of delegates at London Tech Week there are “incredible opportunities” with AI but at the same time “attendant risks with any new transformative technology and AI is no different in that respect”.
Aside from being the head of Google's AI unit, Mr Hassabis is a government adviser on AI and among the industry experts who signed a statement saying that “mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority”.
The statement compared the potential risks from AI technology to nuclear war and pandemics.
In conversation with UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Mr Hassabis said there was an “access issue” to prevent “bad actors using these technologies in bad ways”.
New safeguards such as encrypted watermarking could help tackle “deep fakes”.
But there was uncertainty about wider risks, such as “alignment, controllability, interpretability of these systems”, he said.
'Proceed with exceptional care'
“We need to understand and research those systems a lot more over the next few years to have a better handle on what the boundaries are of these systems, including the risks, and then we can put the right guardrails in place.
“In the situation where there's a high degree of uncertainty, but huge potential impact either way, I think the only the right way to proceed is with the precautionary principle.
“Proceed with exceptional care, be optimistic about what we can do with the opportunities, and use things like the scientific method to study and carefully analyse these systems as they get increasingly more powerful in the future.”
“International co-operation around AI is going to be critical – it's far too big a technology for one country and one company. We all need to come around and discuss this and make sure we reap the benefits and the minimise the risks,” he added.
Mr Hassabis noted the first-ever global summit on AI safety that is set to be held in the UK in the autumn.
Meanwhile, Mr Sunak said there was a need to consider the question of existential risk when it comes to AI.
“There's obviously concerns around misuse – how do people use AI to do things that are bad? People have always used technology to do bad things, that's not a new thing.
“It's important to put guardrails in place to make sure that we develop and exploit this technology in a way that's safe and that's secure.
“That's why the Summit [on AI safety] is important because it'll bring together people to consider those risks, make sure that we appropriately plan for them, discuss the right guardrails to put in place and the research and evaluation that we're going to need to do to make sure that we're on top of it.”
'Just come to the UK'
Meanwhile, speaking about the UK's technology sector as a whole, Mr Sunak said action was needed quickly, “if we want not only to retain our position as one of the world's tech capitals, but to go even further and make this the best country in the world to start, grow and invest in tech businesses.”
“That is my goal and I feel a sense of urgency and responsibility to make sure that we seize it.”
Part of the plan to seizing that goal is attracting talent to the UK. Mr Sunak noted that half of the fastest growing innovation businesses in Britain have a foreign-born founder.
“That tells you need a visa system that attracts the best and the brightest to the UK – and I think we’ve got one.”
“Whether it’s the new scale-up visa for companies that are going to get the talent they need, whether it’s our innovator founder visa which is globally extremely competitive, or the high-potential individual visa, that I created, which essentially says if you’ve graduated from a global top 50 university, just come to the UK – you don’t need a job offer; we just want to make sure that you can speak English and that you have a certain amount of money to support yourself. Otherwise, we just want you here, because we think that it will be additive for our economy.
“That’s a massive ‘we’re open for business sign’ for the world’s most talented.”
Terror attacks in Paris, November 13, 2015
- At 9.16pm, three suicide attackers killed one person outside the Atade de France during a foootball match between France and Germany
- At 9.25pm, three attackers opened fire on restaurants and cafes over 20 minutes, killing 39 people
- Shortly after 9.40pm, three other attackers launched a three-hour raid on the Bataclan, in which 1,500 people had gathered to watch a rock concert. In total, 90 people were killed
- Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the terrorists, did not directly participate in the attacks, thought to be due to a technical glitch in his suicide vest
- He fled to Belgium and was involved in attacks on Brussels in March 2016. He is serving a life sentence in France
GIANT REVIEW
Starring: Amir El-Masry, Pierce Brosnan
Director: Athale
Rating: 4/5
The Vile
Starring: Bdoor Mohammad, Jasem Alkharraz, Iman Tarik, Sarah Taibah
Director: Majid Al Ansari
Rating: 4/5
Jumanji: The Next Level
Director: Jake Kasdan
Stars: Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Karen Gillan, Jack Black, Nick Jonas
Two out of five stars
MATCH INFO
Chelsea 3 (Abraham 11', 17', 74')
Luton Town 1 (Clark 30')
Man of the match Abraham (Chelsea)
The Buckingham Murders
Starring: Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ash Tandon, Prabhleen Sandhu
Director: Hansal Mehta
Rating: 4 / 5
Picture of Joumblatt and Hariri breaking bread sets Twitter alight
Mr Joumblatt’s pessimism regarding the Lebanese political situation didn’t stop him from enjoying a cheerful dinner on Tuesday with several politicians including Mr Hariri.
Caretaker Culture Minister Ghattas Khoury tweeted a picture of the group sitting around a table at a discrete fish restaurant in Beirut’s upscale Sodeco area.
Mr Joumblatt told The National that the fish served at Kelly’s Fish lounge had been very good.
“They really enjoyed their time”, remembers the restaurant owner. “Mr Hariri was taking selfies with everybody”.
Mr Hariri and Mr Joumblatt often have dinner together to discuss recent political developments.
Mr Joumblatt was a close ally of Mr Hariri’s assassinated father, former prime minister Rafik Hariri. The pair were leading figures in the political grouping against the 15-year Syrian occupation of Lebanon that ended after mass protests in 2005 in the wake of Rafik Hariri’s murder. After the younger Hariri took over his father’s mantle in 2004, the relationship with Mr Joumblatt endured.
However, the pair have not always been so close. In the run-up to the election last year, Messrs Hariri and Joumblatt went months without speaking over an argument regarding the new proportional electoral law to be used for the first time. Mr Joumblatt worried that a proportional system, which Mr Hariri backed, would see the influence of his small sect diminished.
With so much of Lebanese politics agreed in late-night meetings behind closed doors, the media and pundits put significant weight on how regularly, where and with who senior politicians meet.
In the picture, alongside Messrs Khoury and Hariri were Mr Joumbatt and his wife Nora, PSP politician Wael Abou Faour and Egyptian ambassador to Lebanon Nazih el Nagari.
The picture of the dinner led to a flurry of excitement on Twitter that it signified an imminent government formation. “God willing, white smoke will rise soon and Walid Beik [a nickname for Walid Joumblatt] will accept to give up the minister of industry”, one user replied to the tweet. “Blessings to you…We would like you to form a cabinet”, wrote another.
The next few days will be crucial in determining whether these wishes come true.
Yuki Means Happiness
Alison Jean Lester
John Murray
UJDA CHAMAN
Produced: Panorama Studios International
Directed: Abhishek Pathak
Cast: Sunny Singh, Maanvi Gagroo, Grusha Kapoor, Saurabh Shukla
Rating: 3.5 /5 stars
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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What is the FNC?
The Federal National Council is one of five federal authorities established by the UAE constitution. It held its first session on December 2, 1972, a year to the day after Federation.
It has 40 members, eight of whom are women. The members represent the UAE population through each of the emirates. Abu Dhabi and Dubai have eight members each, Sharjah and Ras al Khaimah six, and Ajman, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain have four.
They bring Emirati issues to the council for debate and put those concerns to ministers summoned for questioning.
The FNC’s main functions include passing, amending or rejecting federal draft laws, discussing international treaties and agreements, and offering recommendations on general subjects raised during sessions.
Federal draft laws must first pass through the FNC for recommendations when members can amend the laws to suit the needs of citizens. The draft laws are then forwarded to the Cabinet for consideration and approval.
Since 2006, half of the members have been elected by UAE citizens to serve four-year terms and the other half are appointed by the Ruler’s Courts of the seven emirates.
In the 2015 elections, 78 of the 252 candidates were women. Women also represented 48 per cent of all voters and 67 per cent of the voters were under the age of 40.
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
