Anthropic · OpenAI · India · Meta · Sam Altman · Rest of World
AI safety is designed in the West, and failing users everywhere
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Last month, OpenAI became the first major artificial intelligence company to voluntarily pause training on a model because of safety concerns.
Key facts
- At the inaugural AI summit in 2023 in the U.K., 28 countries signed the Bletchley Declaration, a voluntary commitment to identify and respond to existential risks tied to AI
- For Sumiya Khan, a 16-year-old in New Delhi, this is sorely needed
- The global majority “still remains at the margins of the larger AI safety discourse,” Urvashi Aneja, founder of research organization Digital Futures Lab, who is working on a report for the United
- The India AI summit earlier this year also addressed safety, while China, which is regulating AI more aggressively, in July proposed mechanisms to manage AI risks in developing nations
Summary
Western AI safety standards focus on high-tech risks while neglecting deployment issues in developing nations. English-focused guardrails fail in local dialects, causing dangerous medical misdiagnoses and denied public services. Tech companies are retreating from safety commitments, leaving low-income countries in urgent need of local safety infrastructure. “We care deeply about AI safety,” OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman said on X. Generative AI systems are solving complex mathematical problems and helping develop highly specialized drugs in the U.S. and other Western nations. The global majority “still remains at the margins of the larger AI safety discourse,” Urvashi Aneja, founder of research organization Digital Futures Lab, who is working on a report for the United Nations on AI safety in developing nations, told Rest of World.