Over 2,500 people attended REAIM, the first-of-its-kind international AI weapons summit
The REAIM summit may have failed to appease rights groups but it largely succeeded bringing a wide variety of stakeholders to the table. Hosted in The Hague by The Netherlands and South Korea, the international summit was seen by some as an important first step to get stakeholders, some of which are actively competing against one another in an AI arm race, to meet under one roof and discuss the most pressing challenges presented by AI weapons system. In total, around 2,500 attendees from 100 different countries attended the summit.
The REAIM Summit saw 2️⃣5️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ attendees from 1️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ countries with 8️⃣0️⃣ government representatives contributing to the Responsible use and deployment of Military #AI.
ℹ️ During REAIM 2023, we also launched a Call To Action on this important topic:https://t.co/UoGowhPZX6 pic.twitter.com/hLlhYI94iW
— REAIMsummit (@REAIMsummit) February 17, 2023
Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra told Reuters at the start of the summit the event sought to agree upon some definition around AI weapons and discuss ways to improve safety under the assumption nations would inevitably pursue autonomous warfare. In general, the stakeholders involved sought to push discussions of AI weapons higher up on each respective nation’s political agenda.
“We are moving into a field that we do not know, for which we do not have guidelines, rules, frameworks, or agreements. But we will need them sooner rather than later,” Hoekstra told Reuters.
Op de @REAIMsummit is ingestemd met een gezamenlijke 'call to action' over de verantwoorde ontwikkeling, toepassing en het gebruik van AI in het militaire domein.
Dit onderstreept de noodzaak om AI hoger op de politieke agenda te zetten en initiatieven te stimuleren. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/5L9B4khIeN— Ministerie van Defensie (@Defensie) February 16, 2023
