UK government plans to invite heads of OpenAI, DeepMind to AI summit

The summit, which could take place as early as this month, could include OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman, the heads of Google parent Alphabet's DeepMind and artificial intelligence startup Anthropic, the people said. Sunak himself may also attend the summit in person.

Anthropic, which recently opened an office in London, declined to comment. Representatives for OpenAI and DeepMind did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Altman is expected to travel to London in the coming days and attend an OpenAI event at University College London.

The UK is working to support rapidly developing artificial intelligence technology while ensuring it is not used for nefarious purposes. Testifying before the U.S. Senate this week, Altman acknowledged that artificial intelligence could help make our lives easier, but he also warned of the risks the technology poses to the labor market and elections.

Representatives for the UK Department of Science, Innovation and Technology did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Asked in an interview on Thursday whether a meeting with Altman was planned, the British technology secretary, Paul Scully, said such talks would need to take place at secretary of state (deputy minister) level.

"As the global leader in the development of artificial intelligence, we're looking at how we can use that position to convene the international community to make sure we can set certain standards and ground rules," Scully said. "You have to listen to practitioners, industry leaders and Academic opinion. I think we also need ethicists and experts in other fields to be part of this conversation because it's a tough issue." (Little)