Call for international cooperation in growth and governance of AI

The Shanghai Declaration on Global AI Governance, representing China's stance on artificial intelligence, was released at WAIC 2024 on Thursday.

The World AI Conference & High-level Meeting on Global AI Governance (WAIC) 2024 opened with a ceremony attended by government officials, corporate executives and scientists, including Turing Award recipients. The four-day event is titled "Governing AI for Good and for All."

The declaration, released by Shanghai Party Chief Chen Jining, emphasizes AI governance, international cooperation, and healthy growth of the AI industry.

The founding of a UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organization) Global Alliance on AI for Industry and Manufacturing Center of Excellence was also announced. It is designed to enhance global cooperation, bridge divides and promote sustainable development of AI.

AI's potential and challenges

Responsible artificial intelligence and governance are major themes at WAIC 2024.

Thomas Coughlin, president of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), said generative artificial intelligence applications have both benefits and potential drawbacks, such as biases, data security, losing control of autonomous devices, and changing social and technical environments.

Transparency is an essential criterion for AI development to help address ethical and societal problems, as it includes full information regarding models and corpus.

Coughlin told WAIC 2024 that the implementation of educational materials and engineer certification must also be ethical.

The 2000 Turing Award winner Andrew Chi-Chih Yao said that while AI is a disruptive technology, improper governance can make it lethal.

Yan Junjie, founder of MiniMax, a Shanghai-based developer of large language models operating in China and globally, emphasized the growing importance of compliance issues such as copyright as the AI industry expands its user base.

Other experts discussed achieving a balance between innovation and ethics.

China's core AI business is expected to be worth 500 billion yuan (US$68.5 billion) by 2024, with large language models ranking second in the world. Industries such as transportation, manufacturing, and medicine commonly use it, impacting millions of people.