October 31, 2023 AI Safety Summit Diary: How do we ensure responsible AI? Author(s): Gina Neff Harriet Harman, MP for Camberwell and Peckham, with Adrian Joseph OBE, Board Member of Direct Line Group, and Linda Bonyo, Founder of Lawyers Hub at the AI Fringe | Credit: Gina Neff How do we ensure AI benefits people, communities and society? In this latest AI Safety Summit diary entry, Gina Neff explores Day 1 of the AI Fringe. Monday 30 October was the first day of AI Fringe, and so I spent the day there at the Knowledge Centre at the British Library. Today was designed to set the scene for the week’s conversations, and it sure did! The sessions here at AI Fringe explored the benefits and risks of AI, its impact on underrepresented communities, research across the devolved nations, and more. This brought together much of the work that the Digital Good Network and Responsible AI UK (RAI UK) and have been doing since the summer. I lead the strategy group for RAI UK, and the programme brings together researchers from across the four nations of the UK to understand how we should shape the development of AI to benefit people, communities and society. It is an open, multidisciplinary network, drawing on a wide range of academic disciplines. Today at AI Fringe, the RAI UK team were out in force! I started the day off with my Responsible AI UK colleagues, Prof Sana Khareghani, Prof Sarvapali (Gopal) Ramchurn and Prof Joel Fischer. Here we joined sessions under the theme of Successfully navigating the AI hype cycle. Prof Sana Khareghani, Prof Sarvapali (Gopal) Ramchurn and Prof Joel Fischer with Prof Gina Neff at the AI Fringe. | Credit: Gina Neff The panel brought together John Thornhill, Innovation Editor, Financial Times, Marc Warner CEO, Faculty, Shaheen Sayed CEO UK, Ireland, and Africa, Accenture and Professor Carissa Véliz, Tutorial Fellow in Philosophy, Hertford College. At lunch, I chatted with Sheila Hayman from the Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy Advisory Board (our event with Sheila is coming up on Nov 30 in Cambridge). I also met students who had come to Fringe including Maxwell from Berkeley/LSE. In the afternoon, I sat in on a brilliant and important panel titled: How do we prevent AI from perpetuating privilege and widening gaps in society? The panel brought together Harriet Harman, MP for Camberwell and Peckham, with Adrian Joseph OBE, Board Member of Direct Line Group, and Linda Bonyo, Founder of Lawyers Hub. Here, the session was under the theme of Designing for the margins. One of the key takeaways for me was what is lost when we close access to these conversations. Linda mentioned her own journey of getting into the UK to talk about these issues, but what about, she asked, the other 10,000 African lawyers who can’t get visa? I then snuck in a quick meeting with Anna Thomas, Director of the Institute for the Future of Work. Here we plotted something exciting… more on that soon! In the afternoon, I joined RAI UK colleagues again, where Sana and Gopal were on a panel, alongside Matt Jones, and Prof Chris Johnson, Pro Vice Chancellor for Engineering and Physical Sciences from Queen’s University, Belfast. The Responsible AI UK team reflected on findings of our recent consultations across the regions of the UK | Credit: Gina Neff Here, in a discussion hosted by Martha Lane Fox, the Responsible AI UK team reflected on findings of our recent consultations across the regions of the UK. There is a risk that Responsible AI conversations ignore the concerns of regional economies. Martha brought in a personal example from a set of meetings in Doncaster that shows how uneven the responsibility readiness terrain across the UK is. I skipped out of Prof Dame Ottoline Leyser’s talk because I had to zip across town to Chatham House on AI and Humanitarian AI. Then I went with June Brawner and Areeq Chowdhury from the Royal Society to Guildhall (wow what a space! And flowers!). Gina Neff and Deborah Raji | Credit: Gina Neff This was for the AI for Innovation Dinner, hosted by the City of London with the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology. It was great seeing so many people, and meet up with the incredible Deb Raji who is part of the US group for the Summit. Some session coming up this week that our team recommend include: – Making the future work (1 Nov) – A future of work stream exploring the here-and-now of AI on the world of work. I will moderate a panel – AI + National Security Symposium (2 Nov) – The challenges and opportunities that AI brings to national security. – Gender Equity and AI (2 Nov) – Examining gender disparities and the critical role of gender diversity in the field of AI Read all posts from my AI Safety Summit Diary: Wednesday 25 October – AI Safety Summit Diary: the lead-up Thursday 26 October – AI Safety Summit Diary: A Prime Ministerial visit Monday 30 October- AI Safety Summit Diary: How do we ensure responsible AI? Tuesday 31 October – AI Safety Summit Diary: The Summit approaches… Wednesday 1 November – AI Safety Summit Diary: The here and now: The impact of AI on our lives Thursday 2 November – AI Safety Summit Diary: What’s next after the AI Safety Summit? Friday 3 November – AI Safety Summit Diary: How do we build a responsible and trustworthy international AI ecosystem?