AI governance is vital to the fate of all mankind, and the international community should uphold the spirit of true multilateralism, form a broadly agreed AI governance framework, standards and norms, and continuously improve the safety, reliability, controllability, and fairness of AI technologies.
"Within a year, AI went from being synonymous with science fiction to being a tool used by millions of people" "AI is being silkily integrated into our lives and driving the industry into the future" "As 2024 arrives, AI innovations that change traditional boundaries will gradually grow"...... Many international media have listed "artificial intelligence" as a keyword when making year-end inventory or outlook for the coming year. In 2023, while AI will unleash huge application value and business value, it will also bring unpredictable risks and challenges. At a critical juncture when AI is developing by leaps and bounds, strengthening AI governance has become an urgent proposition that the international community must face together.
Over the past year, the development of artificial intelligence technology represented by large language models has accelerated, and the application scenarios have been continuously expanded, which has an important impact on economic and social development and opened up a new imagination space for the future of mankind. When the British journal Nature recently selected the scientific and technological figure of the year, the artificial intelligence model was included in it to reflect the major changes brought by artificial intelligence to scientific research. From enabling new drug development to optimizing financial services, from accelerating software development to planning production, AI is becoming increasingly widely used. A McKinsey & Company study calls 2023 "the year of breakthroughs for generative AI," with one-third of respondents saying their organizations regularly use generative AI in at least one business function. Ian Bremmer, president of the Eurasia Group in the United States, believes that the impact of artificial intelligence will be more profound than that of the Internet, and people will see widespread innovation and increased productivity within a few decades.
While the application of artificial intelligence is accelerating, the risks and challenges brought by it are gradually revealed. Merriam-Webster Dictionary Editor and Publisher Merriam-Webster Publishing Co., Ltd. announced that it will be the word of the year for 2023, due to the sudden rise in demand for "real" due to the emergence of artificial intelligence technology. How to prevent AI from spreading false information, infringing on individual rights and interests, creating security risks, and widening the technological gap has attracted unprecedented attention around the world. It is widely believed that without effective guardrails, AI is at risk of misuse and abuse. "As the global adoption of AI accelerates, it is imperative for governments and organizations to consider how best to use this technology for the benefit of people and the planet. "The Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA) CEO Yoo-Chong Hong said that a concerted effort should be made to build a trustworthy AI environment.
Good governance is the only way to have "good wisdom". The role that AI will have on the development of human society depends on whether the international community can pursue advantages and avoid disadvantages and carry out effective governance. UN Secretary-General António Guterres said that to tackle this technology with "a sense of urgency, a global vision and a Xi's mindset", countries should coordinate and set red lines to push AI for the benefit of humanity. China announced the Interim Measures for the Management of Generative AI Services, the United Nations established a High-Level Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence, the Global AI Security Summit issued the Bletchley Declaration, and the European Union reached an agreement on the Artificial Intelligence Act...... Over the past year, all parties have deepened their understanding of the urgency of AI governance and accelerated their actions, but in the face of such a disruptive technology that will profoundly affect the trajectory of human civilization, governance challenges are still widespread, and more effective coordination of global cooperation is a top priority.
From the perspective of technical characteristics, the development and application of artificial intelligence involves a large amount of data, algorithms, models and systems, and its internal logic and mechanism have the characteristics of "black box", which is manifested in uncontrollable behavior and difficult to explain decision-making mechanisms. At present, large-scale model technology is rapidly iterating, and many other technical routes are also accelerating their evolution, which puts forward higher requirements for governance agility. Some experts warn that despite the acceleration of AI technology, there are still many unknowns, "like building an engine without understanding the science of combustion". On the one hand, effective AI governance should promote the establishment of a risk level testing and evaluation system, implement agile governance, classification and hierarchical management, and respond quickly and effectively, and on the other hand, promote R&D entities to continuously improve the interpretability and predictability of AI, improve the authenticity and accuracy of data, ensure that AI is always under human control, and create auditable, supervised, traceable, and trustworthy AI technology.
From the perspective of social impact, the development and application of artificial intelligence involves not only development issues such as improving production efficiency, improving social welfare, and promoting economic growth, but also value and ethical issues such as privacy, security, fairness, and justice. Strengthening governance requires all parties to seek consensus from different cognitive understandings and expectations to achieve intelligence for good and enhance the common well-being of mankind. Under the current situation, it is especially necessary to arouse the vigilance of the international community that some major countries attempt to monopolize the advantages of artificial intelligence development, are keen to engage in "small courtyards and high walls" and "decoupling and breaking chains", and even introduce ideological bias into artificial intelligence governance, create a closed and exclusive "small circle", and maliciously obstruct the development of artificial intelligence in other countries. These practices undermine the right of countries to develop and use AI on an equal footing and run counter to the goal of sharing the fruits of AI knowledge. AI governance is vital to the fate of all mankind, and the international community should uphold the spirit of true multilateralism, form a broadly agreed AI governance framework, standards and norms, and continuously improve the safety, reliability, controllability, and fairness of AI technologies.
As a responsible AI power, China has always attached great importance to AI governance. While China is gradually establishing and improving relevant laws, regulations and institutional systems, China has taken the initiative to contribute wisdom to strengthening global AI governance. China proposes the Global AI Governance Initiative, which systematically expounds China's plan for AI governance in three aspects: AI development, security and governance, adheres to the systematic thinking of attaching equal importance to development and security, advocates a general consensus on people-oriented and intelligent for good, promotes the values of equality, mutual benefit and respect for human rights and interests, provides constructive solutions to AI development and governance issues of common concern to all parties, and provides a blueprint for relevant international discussions and rule-making. China has also actively engaged in communication, exchanges and practical cooperation with all parties on global AI governance. During the China-US summit in San Francisco, the two sides agreed to establish an intergovernmental dialogue on AI, which injected new impetus into strengthening global AI governance and encouraged the international community.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a new field of human development, and only effective governance can make it healthy and benefit mankind. Against the backdrop of multiple challenges to world peace and development, only by upholding the concept of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, adhering to the principle of attaching equal importance to development and security, building consensus through dialogue and cooperation, and building an open, fair and effective governance mechanism, can all countries jointly promote the healthy, orderly and safe development of global AI and ensure that AI always develops in a direction conducive to the progress of human civilization.
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Source: "People's Daily" (December 29, 2023 Edition 03), original title: "Strengthening Artificial Intelligence Governance, the World Must Work Together to Face (Huanyuping)" Image source: Picture Worm Creative The cover picture and accompanying pictures of this article are from the copyright gallery and are not authorized to be reprinted