World leaders at a safety summit have agreed on the importance of mitigating risks posed by rapid advancements in the emerging technology of artificial intelligence.

The inaugural two-day AI Safety Summit, hosted by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in Bletchley Park, England, started Wednesday with leaders from 28 nations, including the United States and China. The leaders agreed to work toward a “shared agreement and responsibility” about AI risks, with plans in place for further meetings to be held later this year in South Korea and France.

Leaders including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres and others discussed each of their individual testing models to ensure safety within the growth of AI.

On Thursday, the summit continued, with focused conversations among what the U.K. called a small group of countries “with shared values.” The leaders in the group came from the EU, the U.N., Italy, Germany, France and Australia.

Some leaders, including Sunak, said immediate, sweeping regulation is not the way forward, and some AI companies have feared that regulation could thwart the technology before it can reach its full potential.

At a Thursday news conference, Sunak announced another landmark agreement by countries pledging to “work together on testing the safety of new AI models before they are released.”

The countries involved in the talks included the U.S., EU, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Canada and Australia. China did not participate in the second day of talks.

The summit concluded with a discussion between Sunak and billionaire Elon Musk in front of a group of invited business leaders and journalists.

Musk praised the inclusion of China in the AI safety agreement, a decision that some condemned after many Western governments reduced their tech cooperation with China. Musk went on to stress the importance of the U.S., the U.K. and China working together to promote AI safety.

The discussion between Sunak and Musk was scheduled to air online later on Thursday.

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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