MARK ALMOND: It’s terrifyingly naive to rush into talks with a belligerent Beijing at the UK’s global AI summit
Looking at the extraordinary opportunities for improving the human condition offered by AI, it’s difficult not to get caught up in a wide-eyed optimism about its ability to solve our problems.
But like many technological breakthroughs, AI has a dark side.
Just as the spectre of the Bomb overshadowed the use of nuclear power for electricity, AI offers sinister opportunities to any state wanting to control and manipulate its own people as well as those outside its dominion. The technology also presents a chilling opportunity to wage new types of warfare.
That’s why it is vital that we make every effort to control the use of AI, but also why rushing into talks with a belligerent China about regulating AI is so terrifyingly naïve.
China’s all-powerful dictator, Xi Jinping has never made the case that his country’s massive investment in AI is for the good of the world. At home, the Chinese People’s Party uses AI to weaponise its unquenchable thirst for data – tracking its citizens with cameras, monitoring their social media activity.
Humanoid AI robot ‘Ameca’ looks on at the booth of Engineered Arts company
Such surveillance techniques are also being used to glean information from the West. From our mobile phones to security cameras, smart meters and even smart TVs, China is intent on using its hi-tech exports to feed back information about our activity.
READ MORE: Sir Iain Duncan Smith urges Rishi Sunak to ban China from attending the UK’s world-first summit on AI
So why on Earth would we invite China to attend the first global AI summit in the UK? Do we really think the country won’t want to extend access to our secrets and technological functioning? Why involve a hostile government with a track record of subverting international institutions?
Whitehall’s desperation to invite China seems to stem from the sheer size of its AI industry.
It is true, China cannot be ignored, given that so much technology is assembled there, and it is a manufacturing powerhouse with a fifth of the world’s population.
But let’s not confuse the everyday diplomacy with China on practical issues such as trade and economic cooperation with letting Beijing help decide how we secure ourselves in the all-encompassing AI environment.
One day it will make sense to involve China in such matters. But that day is nowhere near. What Britain and our allies need to do is to set out our own framework to regulate AI among friends.
China’s all-powerful dictator, Xi Jinping has never made the case that his country’s massive investment in AI is for the good of the world
Then we can test how effective our security measures are against rivals and would-be disruptors of our societies across the range of AI applications.
During the 40 years of the old Cold War, America, Britain and the NATO allies did just this and developed mechanisms to deter the Soviet Union from attacking the West.
Only after we had a reliable nuclear shield as well as a conventional army tripwire along the Iron Curtain could détente begin; it led eventually to Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev paving the way for genuine disarmament and an end of the Cold War threat of nuclear war.
Sadly, Xi Jinping is no Gorbachev. Far from seeking an end to confrontation, he repeatedly invokes the need for China’s army and intelligence to be ready for war.
So it is with a deep caution about China’s goals, rather than collaboration with them, that the West should approach AI.
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