AI Safety Summit

2023 AI Safety Summit
Bletchley Park Mansion, the place that held the summit
Host country	United Kingdom
Date	1–2 November 2023
Venues	Bletchley Park Mansion, Bletchley Park Milton Keynes
Website	aisafetysummit.gov.uk
Key points
Discussions on the use of the artificial intelligence around the World [1]

The AI Safety Summit was an international conference discussing the safety and regulation of artificial intelligence. It was held at Bletchley Park, Milton Keynes, United Kingdom, in November 2023. ^[2] It was the first ever global summit on artificial intelligence. ^{[3] [4]} The conference led to the release of the Bletchley Declaration, which focused on "identifying AI safety risks of shared concern" and "building respective risk-based policies" to "ensure that the benefits of the technology can be harnessed responsibly for good and for all." ^[5]

Background

The prime minister of the United Kingdom at the time, Rishi Sunak, made AI one of the priorities of his government, ^[6] announcing that the UK would host a global AI Safety conference in autumn 2023. ^[7]

Venue

Bletchley Park was a World War II codebreaking facility established by the British government on the site of a Victorian manor and is in the British city of Milton Keynes. It has played an important role in the history of computing, with some of the first modern computers being built at the facility. ^[8]

Outcomes

28 countries at the summit, including the United States, China, Australia, ^[9] and the European Union, have issued an agreement known as the Bletchley Declaration, ^[10] calling for international co-operation to manage the challenges and risks of artificial intelligence. ^[11] The Bletchley Declaration affirms that AI should be designed, developed, deployed, and used in a manner that is safe, human-centric, trustworthy and responsible. ^[9]

Emphasis has been placed on regulating "Frontier AI", a term for the latest and most powerful AI systems. ^[12] Concerns that have been raised at the summit include the potential use of AI for terrorism, criminal activity, and warfare, ^[13] as well as existential risk posed to humanity as a whole.

Elon Musk speaks to delegates on day one of the AI Safety Summit.

The president of the United States, Joe Biden, signed an executive order requiring AI developers to share safety results with the US government. ^[14] The US government also announced the creation of an American AI Safety Institute, as part of the National Institute of Standards and Technology. ^[15]

The tech entrepreneur Elon Musk and Sunak did a live interview on AI safety on 2 November on X. ^[16]

Notable attendees

The following individuals attended the summit:^{[ needs update ]}

• Rishi Sunak, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom ^[1]
• Kamala Harris, Vice President of the United States ^[1]
• Charles III, King of the United Kingdom (attending virtually) ^[17]
• Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, owner of X, SpaceX, Neuralink, and xAI ^[1]
• Giorgia Meloni, Prime Minister of Italy ^[1]
• Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission ^[1]
• Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI ^[1]
• Nick Clegg, former British politician and president of global affairs at Meta Platforms ^[1]
• Mustafa Suleyman, co-founder of DeepMind ^[18]
• Michelle Donelan, UK secretary of state for Science, Innovation and Technology ^[18]
• Věra Jourová, the European Commission’s vice-president for Values and Transparency ^[18]
• Gina Raimondo, United States secretary of commerce ^[15]
• Wu Zhaohui, Chinese vice-minister of science and technology ^[15]

AI Summits

AI Summits continued in subsequent years, including:

• AI Seoul Summit: hosted by South Korea on 21–22 May 2024. ^[19]
• AI Action Summit: held in France on 10–11 February 2025. ^[20]

References

1. "AI summit brings Elon Musk and world leaders to Bletchley Park". BBC News . 1 November 2023. Archived from the original on 2 November 2023. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
2. "AI Safety Summit". AISS 2023. Archived from the original on 31 October 2023. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
3. "AI Safety Summit 2023 - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. 28 April 2025. Retrieved 5 November 2025.
4. Burki, Talha (1 February 2024). "Crossing the frontier: the first global AI safety summit". The Lancet Digital Health. 6 (2): e91 –e92. doi:10.1016/S2589-7500(24)00001-3. ISSN   2589-7500.
5. "The Bletchley Declaration by Countries Attending the AI Safety Summit, 1-2 November 2023". GOV.UK. Retrieved 5 November 2025.
6. "Extinction risk from AI on same scale as nuclear war, Sunak warns". The Independent . 26 October 2023. Archived from the original on 31 October 2023. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
7. Parker, George (7 June 2023). "Britain to host first global AI regulation summit in autumn". Financial Times . Archived from the original on 1 November 2023. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
8. "The UK's AI summit is taking place at Bletchley Park, the wartime home of codebreaking and computing". Washington Post . 1 November 2023. ISSN   0190-8286. Archived from the original on 2 November 2023. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
9. "Australia signs the Bletchley Declaration at AI Safety Summit". Ministers for the Department of Industry, Science and Resources. 3 November 2023. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
10. "The Bletchley Declaration by Countries Attending the AI Safety Summit, 1–2 November 2023". GOV.UK . 1 November 2023. Archived from the original on 1 November 2023. Retrieved 2 November 2023.
11. "Countries agree to safe and responsible development of frontier AI in landmark Bletchley Declaration". GOV.UK (Press release). Archived from the original on 1 November 2023. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
12. "World leaders gather at UK summit aiming to tackle 'frontier AI' risks". France 24 . 1 November 2023. Archived from the original on 1 November 2023. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
13. "Can Rishi Sunak's big summit save us from AI nightmare?". BBC News . 28 October 2023. Archived from the original on 1 November 2023. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
14. "US announces 'strongest global action yet' on AI safety". BBC News . 30 October 2023. Archived from the original on 31 October 2023. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
15. Stacey, Kiran; Milmo, Dan (1 November 2023). "UK, US, EU and China sign declaration of AI's 'catastrophic' danger". The Guardian . Retrieved 2 November 2023.
16. Kleinman, Zoe; Seddon, Sean (3 November 2023). "Elon Musk tells Rishi Sunak AI will put an end to work – BBC News". BBC News . Retrieved 17 April 2024.
17. Sellman, Mark (1 November 2023). "Nations must work together to harness AI, King tells landmark summit". The Times . ISSN   0140-0460. Archived from the original on 2 November 2023. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
18. Milmo, Dan; Stacey, Kiran (1 November 2023). "'It's not clear we can control it': what they said at the Bletchley Park AI summit". The Guardian . Retrieved 2 November 2023.
19. Coulter, Martin (12 April 2024). "South Korea to host second AI Safety Summit on May 21–22". Reuters . Retrieved 17 April 2024.
20. "South Korea and France to host next two AI Safety Summits". Reuters . 1 November 2023. Archived from the original on 1 November 2023. Retrieved 1 November 2023.