Officials told “Breaking Defense” website that 4 countries have been selected to join the United States in a year-long effort to explore the use of artificial intelligence in military industries.
The website mentioned that delegates from 60 countries met last week and selected 5 countries to lead a year-long effort. These countries are Canada, a partner in the “Five Eyes” alliance, Portugal, a NATO ally, Bahrain, a Middle East ally, Austria a neutral country, along with the United States of America.
All of them will join the United States in a “working group” to gather international responses for a second global conference to be held next year. Representatives from the US departments of Defense and State say this represents a vital effort among governments to protect artificial intelligence.
With the proliferation of smart technology in armies around the world, the administration of US President Joe Biden seeks to enhance the responsible use of artificial intelligence and autonomous governance in military sectors globally.
This title is considered an official political statement issued by the United States 13 months ago at the “REAIM” international conference in The Hague. Since then, 53 other countries have signed this agreement.
Last week, officials from 46 governments, with one exception, the United States, along with 14 other countries as observers, not formally endorsing the declaration, outside Washington, to discuss how to implement the ten broad principles.
Madeleine Mortelmans, acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategic Affairs, said in an interview with “Breaking Defense” after the meeting: “It is really important, whether from the State Department or the Department of Defense, that this is not just a document. It’s about the practices of countries and how they build their capacity to meet those standards we commit to.”
She strongly emphasized that this does not mean applying American standards to other countries with significantly different cultures, institutions, and levels of technological development.
Mortelmans, who delivered the closing speech at the conference, said: “Although the United States leads in artificial intelligence, there are many other countries that have expertise that we can benefit from.”
She said, “For example, our partners in Ukraine have unique expertise in understanding how to apply artificial intelligence and autonomy in conflict resolution.”
Agreeing with her, Mallory Stewart, Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control, Verification, and Compliance, said after opening the conference with a keynote address: “We’ve repeated it time and again.. we don’t monopolize good ideas.”
While, Stewart pointed out in an interview with “Breaking Defense” that “the Defense Department offering its expertise spanning over a decade was extremely valuable.”
To maintain momentum, countries formed three working groups to focus on implementation details until the full group meets again next year in a location yet to be determined.
First Group: Assurance
The United States and Bahrain will co-chair the “Assurance” working group, which focuses on implementing the three most technically complex principles in the declaration: building artificial intelligence and autonomous systems for “explicit and well-defined uses”, as well as “rigorous testing” and appropriate safeguards against failure or “unintended behavior” – including, if necessary, a means for humans to stop the technology.
Second Group: Accountability
Canada and Portugal will lead efforts to strengthen”The accountability”, which focuses on the human aspect: ensuring the appropriate training of military individuals to understand the “capabilities and limitations” of technology, in addition to having “transparent and auditable” documents explaining how to implement them, and ensuring that they “exercise proper care.”
Group Three: Monitoring
Meanwhile, Austria will manage the “task force” specialized in “supervision,” without at least a joint directive at the moment. It will discuss issues related to public policy, such as the need for legal reviews to ensure compliance with international humanitarian law, monitoring the performance of senior officials, as well as monitoring and combating “unintended bias.”
(Breaking Defence-Translations)
