US Vice President Kamala Harris joined the battle to shape the future of artificial intelligence on Wednesday with a speech in London in which she said the technology could bring both “profound good” and “profound harm”.
A day before she joins a 27-country AI Safety Summit in Britain, Ms Harris set out a pitch for AI to be used according to global “rules and norms” in which machine-generated content is watermarked to guard against deception and disinformation.
Speaking at the US embassy in London with the slogan "AI: in service of the public interest" displayed behind her, she announced Washington would form an AI safety institute to test and scrutinise new tech - imitating a move last week by UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak who had billed Britain’s institute as a world first.
Ms Harris and Mr Sunak will have a private Downing Street dinner later with their respective partners Doug Emhoff and Akshata Murty. They will meet again on Thursday when the vice-presidential helicopter travels to Bletchley Park, the home of Second World War codebreaking and venue for the AI summit.
In another US-led initiative announced to an audience including Britain's former prime minister Theresa May, Ms Harris said 30 countries - including the UK, France and Morocco - had committed to responsible use of AI in the military, including autonomous weapons.
The UK summit is intended to put leading countries on the same page about AI’s risks with Mr Sunak trying to position Britain as a leader in the field, brushing off criticism to invite China in the hope of bringing it around a table with the US.
Ms Harris said US policies to use AI safely in government could likewise be a model for the world, at what she said history would show was the moment to "create a collective vision" for the technology's future.
"This is a moment of profound opportunity. The benefits of AI are immense," she said. "Let us work together to fulfil our duty to make sure artificial intelligence is in the service of the public interest."
While "AI has the potential to do profound good, it also has the potential to cause profound harm, from AI-enabled cyber attacks at a scale beyond anything we've seen before to AI-formulated bioweapons that could endanger the lives of millions of people," she said.
However, Ms Harris said the world should tackle the "full spectrum" of AI-related threats from doomsday scenarios to everyday harms, with a message that losing health access, being threatened by fake imagery or being wrongfully imprisoned due to faulty facial recognition would "feel existential" for those affected.
"We reject the false choice that suggests we can either protect the public or advance innovation. We can and we must do both. And we must do so swiftly, as this technology rapidly advances," she said.
The AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park - in pictures
A White House official said Ms Harris's speech was intended to "re-assert US global leadership on AI", with Washington seeking to "catalyse global action in a way that only the United States can".
They said Ms Harris's "core questions" for AI developers would include: "Whose biases are being written into the code? Whose interests are being served? Who reaps the reward of speedy adoption? Who suffers the harms most acutely? Who will be hurt if something goes wrong? Who has been at the table?".
Mr Sunak wants to show UK leadership in a crowded space in which Germany, France, Italy, the EU and the G7 countries have all set out their stall in the run-up to the summit at Bletchley Park.
The UK is touting itself as the home of the world’s third-biggest AI sector after the US and China, with Science and Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan saying Britain’s new institute would “lead a global effort”. UK ministers last week released intelligence assessments that say AI could be used for cyber crime, terrorist recruitment and disinformation campaigns by 2025.
TRAP
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue
Director: M Night Shyamalan
Rating: 3/5
End of free parking
- paid-for parking will be rolled across Abu Dhabi island on August 18
- drivers will have three working weeks leeway before fines are issued
- areas that are currently free to park - around Sheikh Zayed Bridge, Maqta Bridge, Mussaffah Bridge and the Corniche - will now require a ticket
- villa residents will need a permit to park outside their home. One vehicle is Dh800 and a second is Dh1,200.
- The penalty for failing to pay for a ticket after 10 minutes will be Dh200
- Parking on a patch of sand will incur a fine of Dh300
Sri Lanka v England
First Test, at Galle
England won by 211
Second Test, at Kandy
England won by 57 runs
Third Test, at Colombo
From Nov 23-27
Ammar 808:
Maghreb United
Sofyann Ben Youssef
Glitterbeat
Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
More coverage from the Future Forum
Destroyer
Director: Karyn Kusama
Cast: Nicole Kidman, Toby Kebbell, Sebastian Stan
Rating: 3/5
UAE release: January 31
Engine: 5.6-litre V8
Transmission: seven-speed automatic
Power: 400hp
Torque: 560Nm
Price: Dh234,000 - Dh329,000
On sale: now
Buy farm-fresh food
The UAE is stepping up its game when it comes to platforms for local farms to show off and sell their produce.
In Dubai, visit Emirati Farmers Souq at The Pointe every Saturday from 8am to 2pm, which has produce from Al Ammar Farm, Omar Al Katri Farm, Hikarivege Vegetables, Rashed Farms and Al Khaleej Honey Trading, among others.
In Sharjah, the Aljada residential community will launch a new outdoor farmers’ market every Friday starting this weekend. Manbat will be held from 3pm to 8pm, and will host 30 farmers, local home-grown entrepreneurs and food stalls from the teams behind Badia Farms; Emirates Hydroponics Farms; Modern Organic Farm; Revolution Real; Astraea Farms; and Al Khaleej Food.
In Abu Dhabi, order farm produce from Food Crowd, an online grocery platform that supplies fresh and organic ingredients directly from farms such as Emirates Bio Farm, TFC, Armela Farms and mother company Al Dahra.
MATCH INFO
Day 2 at the Gabba
Australia 312-1
Warner 151 not out, Burns 97, Labuschagne 55 not out
Pakistan 240
Shafiq 76, Starc 4-52
What the law says
Micro-retirement is not a recognised concept or employment status under Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations (as amended) (UAE Labour Law). As such, it reflects a voluntary work-life balance practice, rather than a recognised legal employment category, according to Dilini Loku, senior associate for law firm Gateley Middle East.
“Some companies may offer formal sabbatical policies or career break programmes; however, beyond such arrangements, there is no automatic right or statutory entitlement to extended breaks,” she explains.
“Any leave taken beyond statutory entitlements, such as annual leave, is typically regarded as unpaid leave in accordance with Article 33 of the UAE Labour Law. While employees may legally take unpaid leave, such requests are subject to the employer’s discretion and require approval.”
If an employee resigns to pursue micro-retirement, the employment contract is terminated, and the employer is under no legal obligation to rehire the employee in the future unless specific contractual agreements are in place (such as return-to-work arrangements), which are generally uncommon, Ms Loku adds.
Meydan race card
6.30pm: Baniyas (PA) Group 2 Dh125,000 (Dirt) 1,400m
7.05pm: Maiden (TB) Dh165,000 (D) 1,200m
7.40pm: Maiden (TB) Dh165,000 (D) 1,400m
8.15pm: Handicap (TB) Dh170,000 (D) 1,900m
8.50pm: Rated Conditions (TB) Dh240,000 (D) 1,600m
9.25pm: Handicap (TB) Dh175,000 (D)1,200m
10pm: Handicap (TB) Dh165,000 (D) 1,400m
In Full Flight: A Story of Africa and Atonement
John Heminway, Knopff
if you go
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
The specs
Engine: 2-litre or 3-litre 4Motion all-wheel-drive Power: 250Nm (2-litre); 340 (3-litre) Torque: 450Nm Transmission: 8-speed automatic Starting price: From Dh212,000 On sale: Now
Day 1 results:
Open Men (bonus points in brackets)
New Zealand 125 (1) beat UAE 111 (3)
India 111 (4) beat Singapore 75 (0)
South Africa 66 (2) beat Sri Lanka 57 (2)
Australia 126 (4) beat Malaysia -16 (0)
Open Women
New Zealand 64 (2) beat South Africa 57 (2)
England 69 (3) beat UAE 63 (1)
Australia 124 (4) beat UAE 23 (0)
New Zealand 74 (2) beat England 55 (2)
The bio
Date of Birth: April 25, 1993
Place of Birth: Dubai, UAE
Marital Status: Single
School: Al Sufouh in Jumeirah, Dubai
University: Emirates Airline National Cadet Programme and Hamdan University
Job Title: Pilot, First Officer
Number of hours flying in a Boeing 777: 1,200
Number of flights: Approximately 300
Hobbies: Exercising
Nicest destination: Milan, New Zealand, Seattle for shopping
Least nice destination: Kabul, but someone has to do it. It’s not scary but at least you can tick the box that you’ve been
Favourite place to visit: Dubai, there’s no place like home
Key recommendations
- Fewer criminals put behind bars and more to serve sentences in the community, with short sentences scrapped and many inmates released earlier.
- Greater use of curfews and exclusion zones to deliver tougher supervision than ever on criminals.
- Explore wider powers for judges to punish offenders by blocking them from attending football matches, banning them from driving or travelling abroad through an expansion of ‘ancillary orders’.
- More Intensive Supervision Courts to tackle the root causes of crime such as alcohol and drug abuse – forcing repeat offenders to take part in tough treatment programmes or face prison.
RESULTS
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