Trump admin to host UN event on AI next week

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The Trump administration will convene a high-level event on artificial intelligence on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly Wednesday, multiple sources familiar with the matter tell CNN, as the issue is expected to loom large over the global gathering.

The US event, to which multiple countries have been invited, comes as questions of AI and security have taken on new urgency amid dire warnings about the potential existential threat posed by artificial intelligence.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has raged against the idea of government regulations, alleging concerns about the technology are a “hoax. ”

The US event is slated to take place the same day as a UN Security Council meeting on AI and security, to discuss the risks being seen by AI companies and executives. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is expected to brief that meeting, an OpenAI spokesperson told CNN.

US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz, Undersecretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment Jacob Helberg, and Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy Sarah Rogers will host the US event.

The US is billing it as chance to talk about partnering with the US on AI, according to a source familiar with the event, and there is expected to be a discussion about the “policy, legal, and regulatory conditions that enable adoption at scale, including free expression considerations.”

CNN has reached out to the State Department for comment.

Claire Melamed, the Vice President for AI and Digital Cooperation at the United Nations Foundation said there are “many side events at the global gathering focused on AI, but it’s “less clear how much it’s going to be an agenda in the main formal business.”

The UN is “still very much sort of setting the stage, setting out positions, trying to work out, as many other organizations are too, really what the UN’s role should be,” she said.

Melamed said “there’s increasing interest in the UN having a potential role in crisis management.”

“If there’s a huge AI-generated cyberattack and you’re working in a hospital in Zambia or you know a bank in Botswana, and this cyberattack is starting to spill beyond your borders, you don’t know what to do, who you’re going to call? Well, often it’s the UN,” she explained. “There’s a lot of interest in that, and sort of the role of the UN in equalizing access to some of the AI governance instruments and safeguards.”

Melamed said she does not expect “a firm deliverable” coming out of the UN Security Council meeting on AI because of the “very different positions that there are among the permanent members of the Security Council, never mind everyone else in the UN.” The US, China, Russia, France, and the United Kingdom are the permanent members of the UNSC.

She said she believes most people will be waiting to see what comes out of the meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping next Thursday, where AI is expected to be a key topic of discussion.

胡安·巴雷托/法新社/盖蒂图片社

据 CNN 报道，多位知情人士透露，特朗普政府将于周三在联合国大会期间召开一次关于人工智能的高级别会议，预计该问题将成为此次全球大会的重要议题。

此次美国举办的活动邀请了多个国家参加，而人工智能和安全问题也因此变得更加紧迫，因为人们对人工智能可能带来的生存威胁发出了严厉警告。

与此同时，唐纳德·特朗普总统强烈反对政府监管的想法，声称对这项技术的担忧是“骗局”。

美国此次活动计划与联合国安理会关于人工智能与安全的会议同一天举行，旨在探讨人工智能公司和高管们所面临的风险。OpenAI发言人告诉CNN，OpenAI首席执行官萨姆·奥特曼预计将在安理会会议上作简报。

美国驻联合国大使迈克·沃尔兹、主管经济增长、能源和环境的副国务卿雅各布·赫尔伯格和主管公共外交的副国务卿萨拉·罗杰斯将主持此次美国活动。

据一位熟悉此次活动的消息人士透露，美国将此活动视为与美国在人工智能领域开展合作的机会，预计双方将讨论“能够大规模采用人工智能的政策、法律和监管条件，包括言论自由方面的考虑”。

CNN已联系国务院寻求置评。

联合国基金会人工智能与数字合作副总裁克莱尔·梅拉梅德表示，此次全球会议“有很多以人工智能为主题的边会”，但“人工智能在正式会议的主要议程中占据多大比重还不清楚”。

她说，联合国“仍然处于某种意义上的铺垫阶段，确立立场，并像许多其他组织一样，努力弄清楚联合国的真正作用应该是什么”。

梅拉梅德表示，“人们越来越关注联合国在危机管理中发挥潜在作用。”

“如果发生大规模的人工智能网络攻击，而你恰好在赞比亚的一家医院工作，或者你认识博茨瓦纳的一家银行，并且这场网络攻击开始蔓延到境外，你不知道该怎么办，该向谁求助？通常情况下，你会求助于联合国，”她解释说。“人们对此非常关注，也关注联合国在确保各国平等获得一些人工智能治理工具和保障措施方面所发挥的作用。”

梅拉梅德表示，她不指望联合国安理会人工智能会议能取得“实质性成果”，因为“安理会常任理事国之间的立场就大相径庭，更不用说联合国其他成员国了”。美国、中国、俄罗斯、法国和英国是安理会常任理事国。

她表示，她相信大多数人都会等到下周四特朗普与中国国家主席习近平的会晤结果出来，人工智能预计将成为会晤的关键议题。