AI holds huge promise, but humans must stay in control: PM Wong

Singapore wants to harness artificial intelligence (AI) effectively to benefit the country and its people, but safeguards against risks must be in place as the technology becomes more powerful, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said.

"AI holds tremendous promise, but it must always remain under human control and oversight," the Singapore prime minister wrote in a social media post on Tuesday (Sept 22), as he joined the leaders of 19 other countries and the European Commission in a joint declaration that called for a control of frontier AI models.

Co-led by Finland and Norway, the declaration noted that AI has the potential to improve lives, advance science and advance economies.

But it also noted that the rapid development of frontier AI models poses serious risks to safety and security if they are not appropriately managed and go "rogue".

When an AI agent "goes rogue", it means the AI has taken action beyond the task it was asked to perform. Both Anthropic and OpenAI , the maker of ChatGPT, said in July that their AI models had succeeded in acting on their own.

On Sept 16, OpenAI said it was introducing a new framework for tracking, probing and disclosing AI model misalignment instances , such as new ways for the models to act without authorisation, coordinate with other models or evade oversight.

This, as it disclosed six reports of "unexpected or concerning" behaviour in AI models.

Such warnings from within the AI industry itself have revived a long-running debate over whether advanced AI could escape human control and ultimately threaten humanity's survival, and whether the companies developing the technology are doing enough to prevent such a scenario.

Governments must address AI risks

"To realise AI's potential, industry, governments and society must act now. We must address these risks and strengthen oversight — without widening the gap between countries in access to the benefits of AI," the joint declaration reads.

Highlighting the need for AI to remain under human direction, oversight and control, while being developed in accordance with international law, the leaders called for companies to develop transparent safety protocols, governments to develop and coordinate common standards.

It also called for United Nations member states to build on existing international mechanisms and explore creating an international institution, able to set standards, enable verification, and convene states when capability thresholds are crossed.

PM Wong said in his post that as AI-related risks cross borders, effective safeguards will require international cooperation.

"We must continue to find practical ways to build common ground and bring more countries along," he added.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump, in his speech at the United Nations General Assembly on Sept 22, said his administration would use the term "super intelligence" instead of AI as it sounded fake.

Trump also repeated his view that AI safety warnings are a hoax.

Likening such warnings to climate change, which the US President has, according to a Reuters report today, repeatedly called a "hoax", Trump said: "We're leading now over China by a lot and everyone else...I'm ​not going to stifle growth of something that will be bigger than the Industrial Revolution."

新加坡总理黄循财表示，新加坡希望有效利用人工智能（AI）造福国家和人民，但随着这项技术变得越来越强大，必须采取防范风险的措施。

“人工智能拥有巨大的潜力，但它必须始终处于人类的控制和监督之下，”新加坡总理周二（9月22日）在社交媒体上发帖写道。他与其他19个国家的领导人和欧盟委员会共同发表了一份联合声明，呼吁对前沿人工智能模型进行管控。

该宣言由芬兰和挪威共同牵头，指出人工智能有潜力改善人们的生活，推动科学进步，促进经济发展。

但报告也指出，如果前沿人工智能模型没有得到适当管理并“失控”，其快速发展将对安全构成严重风险。

当人工智能代理“失控”时，意味着它采取了超出其被要求执行的任务之外的行动。Anthropic 和 ChatGPT 的开发商 OpenAI 都曾在 7 月份表示，他们的人工智能模型已经成功地自主行动。

9 月 16 日，OpenAI 表示，它正在引入一个新的框架，用于跟踪、探测和披露 AI 模型不协调实例，例如模型未经授权采取行动、与其他模型协调或逃避监管的新方法。

此前，该机构披露了六起人工智能模型中“意外或令人担忧”的行为报告。

来自人工智能行业内部的此类警告，重新引发了一场由来已久的辩论，即先进的人工智能是否会摆脱人类的控制，并最终威胁人类的生存，以及开发这项技术的公司是否采取了足够的措施来防止这种情况的发生。

各国政府必须应对人工智能风险

“为了充分发挥人工智能的潜力，产业界、政府和社会必须立即采取行动。我们必须应对这些风险并加强监管——同时不能扩大各国在享受人工智能带来的益处方面的差距，”联合声明中写道。

领导人们强调，人工智能的发展必须始终处于人类的指导、监督和控制之下，并且必须符合国际法。他们呼吁企业制定透明的安全协议，各国政府制定和协调共同标准。

它还呼吁联合国成员国在现有国际机制的基础上，探索建立一个能够制定标准、进行核查并在能力门槛被突破时召集各国的国际机构。

黄之锋总理在帖子中表示，随着人工智能相关风险跨越国界，有效的保障措施需要国际合作。

他补充说：“我们必须继续寻找切实可行的方法来建立共同立场，并让更多国家加入进来。”

与此同时，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普在9月22日联合国大会的演讲中表示，他的政府将使用“超级智能”一词来代替人工智能，因为人工智能听起来很假。

特朗普还重申了他的观点，即人工智能安全警告是骗局。

据路透社今天报道，美国总统特朗普曾多次称气候变化是“骗局”，他将此类警告比作气候变化：“我们现在远远领先于中国和其他所有国家……我不会扼杀比工业革命规模更大的事物的发展。”