Rishi Sunak announces Bletchley Park as site of autumn AI summit

Rishi Sunak’s autumn summit on artificial intelligence (AI) will be hosted at Bletchley Park, once the top-secret home of Second World War codebreakers.

The Prime Minister on Thursday announced the site as the location for the November talks.

The first major summit on the technology will convene international governments, leading AI firms and experts to discuss how its risks can be mitigated through internationally-co-ordinated action.

Mr Sunak, who has sought to position Britain as a world leader on AI, has previously highlighted “large-scale societal shifts”, “misuse”, “national security” and “existential” risks as some of its biggest potential dangers.

Bletchley Park, near Milton Keynes, is seen as one of the birthplaces of computer science pioneered by Alan Turing.

Codebreakers based there decrypted German messages, most famously by breaking the Enigma code, feeding crucial information to Allied forces that is believed to have shortened the war by two years and helped to save millions of lives.

Mr Sunak said: “The UK has long been home to the transformative technologies of the future, so there is no better place to host the first ever global AI safety summit than at Bletchley Park this November.

“To fully embrace the extraordinary opportunities of artificial intelligence, we must grip and tackle the risks to ensure it develops safely in the years ahead.

“With the combined strength of our international partners, thriving AI industry and expert academic community, we can secure the rapid international action we need for the safe and responsible development of AI around the world.”

Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan said: “International collaboration is the cornerstone of our approach to AI regulation, and we want the summit to result in leading nations and experts agreeing on a shared approach to its safe use.”

Foreign Secretary and Braintree MP James Cleverly said: “The origins of modern AI can be traced back to Bletchley Park. Now, it will also be home to the global effort to shape the responsible use of AI.”

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