The UK government has pledged £38 million to fund AI projects in Africa as it kicked off the first global summit on artificial intelligence on Wednesday.
The government said it’s part of a £80 million ($100 million) pledge made alongside the United States, Canada, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and unnamed partners in Africa.
Focusing on sub-Saharan Africa first, the initiative aims to create or scale up at least eight AI research labs at African universities; help at least ten countries create AI regulatory frameworks; bring five or more African countries to the table of global AI conversation including in using AI to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO) said.
The FCDO also said the package is aimed at breaking down barriers for African AI innovators with the private sector and unlocking the benefits of AI to people on the continent.
The department said the technology “could have a transformative impact on a range of challenges, including speeding up drug discovery, helping people who are deaf or blind to access education, and improving access to clean energy.”
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said, “The transformative power of AI should have a global benefit. AI can change lives for the better around the world, including helping to develop new treatments for diseases and to tackle food insecurity.
Summit to Discuss AI Risks
The two-day summit will be held in Bletchley Park, near Milton Keynes, which was home to the UK’s Second World War codebreakers.Representatives from governments, international bodies, and industry, as well as academics, will discuss the risks of AI such as threats to national security, election disruption, and erosion of social trust.
According to a guest list published by the government, representatives from 27 countries will be present, including the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Australia, China, Japan, Korea, UAE, Kenya, Nigeria, and Rwanda.
Vice President Kamala Harris, who’s heading the U.S. delegation, landed on Tuesday night at Stansted Airport.
The UK government has been forced to defend its decision to invite China to the summit on AI safety, saying it has to invite all major players on AI.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt previously said the country would only be invited to parts of the summit.
China’s Alibaba and Tencent are also among the guests invited to the summit along with 40 companies including Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, ARM, OpenAI.
Alongside tech companies, civil society groups and experts from the Alan Turing Institute, and the Ada Lovelace Institute will be present.
The prime minister hopes the summit on AI safety will cement the UK’s status as a leading world player in the cutting-edge technology.
Mr. Sunak also said last week that mitigating the risk of extinction because of AI should be a global priority alongside pandemics and nuclear war.
It comes as U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order on AI on Monday, and said the technology was driving change at “warp speed” and carries tremendous potential as well as perils.
The order seeks to steer how AI is developed so that companies can profit without putting public safety in jeopardy.
Using the Defence Production Act, it requires leading AI developers to share safety test results and other information with the government.
