A former senior Chinese diplomat has called for China and the US to work together to head off the risks of rapid advances in artificial intelligence (AI).
Advertisement
But the prospect of cooperation was bleak as geopolitical tensions rippled out through the technological landscape, former Chinese foreign vice-minister Fu Ying told a closed-door AI governing panel in Paris on Monday.
“Realistically, many are not optimistic about US-China AI collaboration, and the tech world is increasingly subject to geopolitical distractions,” Fu said.
“As long as China and the US can cooperate and work together, they can always find a way to control the machine. [Nevertheless], if the countries are incompatible with each other … I am afraid that the probability of the machine winning will be high.”
The panel discussion is part of a two-day global AI Action Summit that started in Paris on Monday.
Advertisement
Other panel members included Yoshua Bengio, the Canadian computer scientist recognised as a pioneer in the field, and Alondra Nelson, a central AI policy adviser to former US president Joe Biden’s administration and the United Nations.