British Academy engagement around the UK AI Safety Summit

Following the AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park, the UK’s four national academies have issued a joint statement.

The British Academy partnered with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology on one of four official pre-Summit events, the outcomes of which aim to feed directly into the Summit planning. The British Academy event was a private roundtable on ‘Possibilities of AI for the public good: the summit and beyond,’ held on 12 October.

The British Academy has produced a high-level summary of the themes that emerged from the discussion. DSIT has also compiled a summary of the discussions across the range of their pre-Summit activities.

The British Academy is a partner to the AI Fringe, a series of events hosted across London and the UK to complement the UK government’s AI Safety Summit by bringing a broad and diverse range of voices into the conversation. The AI Fringe is a separate event to the AI Safety Summit. As part of the AI Fringe, the British Academy and UCL Public Policy hosted a panel debate on 30 October on ‘The Possibilities of AI and Good Work’.

The development, adoption, and use of AI in the context of work holds a range of possibilities for the future, including both opportunities and uncertainties for the future of work in its various forms. This panel discussion brought together representatives from business, civil society, and academia to generate dialogue, shared understanding, and ways forward around the role of AI in work. The event was free and open to public attendance, and held at the British Academy, 10-11 Carlton House Terrace, London, SW1Y 5AH. A video recording of the discussion can be viewed below.

The event was chaired by Professor Jack Stilgoe (Professor of Science and Technology Policy, UCL), with opening remarks to be provided by Professor Helen Margetts FBA (Director of the Public Policy Programme at the Alan Turing Institute and Professor of Society and the Internet at the University of Oxford). The panellists were:

• Anna Thomas, Co-Founder and Director, Institute for the Future of Work
• Dan Conway, CEO, Publishers Association
• Rob McCargow, Technology Impact Leader, PwC United Kingdom
• Sophia Adams Bhatti, Head of Purpose and Impact, Simmons & Simmons LLP

A blog summarising the main messages from the event can be found at the link above.