Olufemi Adeyemi
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The world’s biggest artificial intelligence companies are pushing the UK government to speed up its safety tests for AI systems, as Britain seeks to establish a leading role in regulating the fast-developing technology.
OpenAI, Google DeepMind, Microsoft and Meta are among the
tech groups that signed voluntary commitments in November to open up their
latest generative AI models for review by Britain’s new AI Safety Institute. At
the time, the companies pledged they would adjust their models if the institute
found flaws in the technology.
According to multiple people familiar with the process, the
AI companies are seeking clarity over the tests the AISI is conducting, how
long they will take and what the feedback process is if any risks are found.
People close to the tech companies said they were not
legally obliged to change or delay their product releases based on the outcomes
of AISI’s safety tests.
However, a LinkedIn post from Ian Hogarth, chair of AISI, on
Monday said: “Companies agreed that governments should test their models before
they are released: the AI Safety Institute is putting that into practice.”
“Testing of models is already under way working closely with
developers,” the UK government told the Financial Times. “We welcome ongoing
access to the most capable AI models for pre-deployment testing — one of the
key agreements companies signed up to at the AI Safety Summit,” which took
place in November in Bletchley Park.
“We will share findings with developers as appropriate.
However, where risks are found, we would expect them to take any relevant
action ahead of launching.”
The debate with tech companies reveals the limitations of
relying on voluntary agreements to set the parameters of fast-paced tech
development. On Tuesday, the government outlined the need for “future binding
requirements” for leading AI developers to ensure they were accountable for
keeping systems safe.
The government-backed AI safety institute is key to Prime
Minister Rishi Sunak’s ambition for the UK to have a central role in tackling
the existential risks stemming from the rise of AI, such as the technology’s
use in damaging cyber attacks or designing bioweapons.
According to people with direct knowledge of the matter, the
AISI has begun testing existing AI models and has access to yet unreleased
models, including Google’s Gemini Ultra.
Testing has focused on the risks associated with the misuse
of AI, including cyber security, leaning on expertise from the National Cyber
Security Centre within Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), one
person said.
Recently published government contracts show the AISI has
spent £1mn procuring capabilities to test for “jailbreaking”, meaning the
formulation of prompts to coax AI chatbots into bypassing their guardrails, and
“spear-phishing”, when individuals and organisations are targeted, commonly via
email, to steal sensitive information or spread malware.
Another contract relates to the development of “reverse
engineering automation”, the process by which source code is broken down in an
automated way to identify its functionality, structure and design.
“The UK AI Safety Institute has access to some of our most
capable models for research and safety purposes to build expertise and
capability for the long term,” Google DeepMind said.
“We value our collaboration with the institute and are
actively working together to build more robust evaluations for AI models, as
well as seek consensus on best practices as the sector advances.”
OpenAI and Meta declined to comment.
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