Among the 27 countries that signed the declaration were the United States,UK and China,after the summit heard from representatives of leading AI companies,civil society groups and academics to consider the risks posed by the technology.
Speaking to this masthead ahead of the summit,Husic said that while there was concern generative AI could go beyond what it was programmed to do,a scenario where humanity lost control of robots was unlikely.
“People within the tech space say,‘yeah that’s a possibility,but exceedingly small’,” he said.
“There’ll be the doomsayers,there’ll be the people who argue thatThe Terminator and Skynet is around the corner,” he said,referring to the 1984 science fiction film. “But if you look at the way the technology’s developing,those kinds of scenarios aren’t panning out.”
Husic said losing control of AI could be mitigated by gettingthe technology’s regulatory framework correct early on.
Gilbert and Tobin law firm’s digital technology partner,Simon Burns,said that Australia signing up to the agreement was a positive step,but that it was unlikely to make a difference to the domestic regulation of AI.