Technology and Science · updated 59m ago · 2 min read
Australia Joins 19 Nations, European Commission To Demand UN-Style AI Guardrails
Australia joined a coalition of about 20+ nations seeking international AI guardrails. The European Commission participates in calls for UN-style AI oversight.
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2 of 3 outlets skipped it: openAI proposes standards with no mandatory pre-release reviews.
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Australia backs global AI rules
Australia joined 19 other nations and the European Commission in demanding sweeping safeguards and globally consistent standards to ensure artificial intelligence remains subordinate to human direction, oversight and control, and is used in accordance with international law. The demands, which include a UN-style international organisation that would set standards and oversee AI use, were released in a joint statement at 2am (AEST) on Tuesday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Finnish President Alexander Stubb told POLITICO that he aims to create an international AI institution and said, "I think it will be in the interest of both China and the United States to have some kind of guardrails." POLITICO reported that the declaration adopted on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly said AI "must remain under human direction, oversight and control" and warned that "the rapid development of frontier AI models poses serious risks to safety and security if not appropriately managed."
Guardrails debate, incident focus
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Global Order and Institutions Program Director Stewart Patrick pressed Lucia Velasco on why progress on AI safety has been hard, and Velasco said, "we seem to need a major incident before improving safety standards for frontier AI." Velasco warned that for people outside the AI bubble, the rhetoric can sound like, "we’re going to die," and she said people need to feel safe rather than only hear about harm.
Scott Singer described technical risks as including AI misuse to provide malicious actors with expertise in cyber, and he said, "AI could be misused to provide people who are potentially malicious actors with expertise in cyber." Singer also described geopolitical risks, saying, "What if next time it’s a U.S. company’s AI agents hacking into critical Chinese infrastructure?"
Standards, oversight, and governance
OpenAI urged the United States to lead an international effort to establish technical safety standards for frontier artificial intelligence, including systems capable of recursive self-improvement, and said AI safety cannot be addressed by individual countries or companies alone. OpenAI said fully autonomous RSI is not happening today and should not be pursued unless it can be carried out safely while preserving meaningful human control, and it called for a framework combining national and international standards with AI safety institutes and other technical bodies working together on common benchmarks and risk assessments.
The Elders’ AI Principles for Leaders called on the USA and China to take the lead in initiating the negotiation of international governance to establish common AI safety standards, and it said, "The USA and China must take the lead in initiating the negotiation of international governance." The Elders’ principles also insisted, "AI must never control humans," and they framed the goal of international cooperation as ensuring that AI is safe, trustworthy, and beneficial for everyone rather than slowing progress.