China Surprising Presence: China’s presence at the UK AI Safety Summit’s ministerial meeting raised questions and sparked curiosity. Despite not being officially listed as a “like-minded” participant and not featuring in handshakes or the family photograph, China did attend the event.
On the first day of the two-day summit focused on the safety of “frontier” artificial intelligence, China participated actively. However, when it came to the second day’s senior meeting, China’s absence from the official gathering was noticeable. Vice Minister of Science and Technology Wu Zhaohui represented China at the event, although it was not previously reported that China would be part of the second-day ministerial meeting.
When asked about China’s absence from public events on the first day, the Chinese ministry responded by suggesting contacting the British sponsoring government department for specific details. One potential reason for not highlighting China’s presence was mentioned by Britain’s Deputy Prime Minister, Oliver Dowden, who mentioned that there were sessions where “like-minded countries” were working together, suggesting that it might not have been appropriate for China to join.
Another speculated reason for China’s exclusion was that Britain aimed to present a united front, and China did not support a joint agreement related to AI model testing. However, the Chinese technology ministry did not provide any reasons for China’s stance on the proposal.
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Diplomatic protocol might have played a role as well, as Wu’s position was junior compared to other participants on the second day of the conference held in Bletchley Park, southern England.
The meeting chaired by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Thursday included “a small group of like-minded senior representatives from governments around the world.” Notably, this group comprised the U.S. vice president and the EC president.
China’s participation in the inaugural AI summit had faced criticism from some British lawmakers, who questioned whether a technological rival and military threat like China should be included in discussions about sensitive technology.
While Wu participated in the first day of the summit, where countries like China, the United States, the European Union, and others agreed on a common approach to identifying AI risks and mitigation strategies called the Bletchley Declaration, he did not take part in public events on the second day. When asked about China’s exclusion, Sunak did not provide a direct response but stated that the desired outcome, with China engaged in the process, had been achieved.
The British government declined to comment on the participation of individual countries at the summit, emphasizing the success of the engagement with China despite initial doubts.
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