Chinese authorities said they attended a ministerial meeting during the Artificial Intelligence Security Summit, although their representative was not named by the British government or featured in the joint official photo, Reuters reported.
As Reuters points out, there is no information about participation China on the second day of the summit, which took place on Wednesday and Thursday at Bletchley Park in the UK, raised questions because a representative from Beijing attended the meeting on the first day.
The British government refused to explain why China’s Vice Minister of Science and Technology Wu Zhaohui was not among the participants at the senior meeting on the second day. However, his ministry clarified on Friday that Wu Zhaohui was in fact present.
Rishi Sunak and Elon Musk during the AI summitTOLGA AKMEN/PAP/EPA
Doubts surrounding China’s participation in the AI summit
Writing about possible reasons for the “secrecy” of China’s participation in Thursday’s session, Reuters quotes the statement of British Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden, who said on Wednesday that “there are certain sessions where like-minded countries cooperate, so it may not be appropriate for China to join.” .
Among other reasons, it has been speculated that Great Britain wanted to present a united front, and China did not support Thursday’s joint agreement. China’s Ministry of Technology refused to answer the question why China did not agree to the proposal, which involved testing artificial intelligence models.
Some British MPs have criticized China’s invitation to the first global summit on artificial intelligence security, questioning whether, because it is seen by the West as a technological rival and military threat, it should be included in meetings on the sensitive technology.
Wu Zhaohui attended the first day of the summit on Wednesday, when China, United Statesthe European Union and 26 other countries have agreed on a common approach to identifying artificial intelligence threats and how to prevent them.
Main photo source: TOLGA AKMEN/PAP/EPA