Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, Anthropic come together to tackle AI security with Frontier Model Forum

Artificial Intelligence (AI) development has undeniably brought immense advancements and opportunities across various sectors. However, it's no secret that this progress also comes with significant security risks. While governing bodies are making efforts to establish regulations to ensure AI safety, the responsibility largely falls on the shoulders of the companies pioneering AI technology. An initiative has been undertaken by industry giants Anthropic, Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI in the form of the Frontier Model Forum.

The Frontier Model Forum is an industry-led body with a mission: to focus on the safe and careful development of AI, particularly in the context of frontier models. These frontier models encompass large-scale machine-learning models that surpass current capabilities and possess an extensive range of abilities, making them powerful tools with great potential impact on society.

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To realise its objectives, the Forum intends to establish an advisory committee, charter, and secure funding. The foundation of their work will be built upon four core pillars:

Advancing AI Safety Research: The Forum aims to contribute significantly to the ongoing research in AI safety. By fostering collaboration and sharing knowledge among member organisations, they hope to identify and address potential security vulnerabilities in frontier models.

Determining Best Practices: Developing a standardised set of best practices is crucial for the responsible deployment of frontier models. The Forum will work diligently to establish guidelines that AI companies can follow to ensure the safe and ethical use of these powerful AI tools.

Engaging with Stakeholders: Collaboration is key to creating a safe and beneficial AI landscape. The Forum seeks to work closely with policymakers, academics, civil society, and other companies to align their efforts and address the multifaceted challenges posed by AI development.

Tackling Societal Challenges: The Forum aims to promote the development of AI technologies that can effectively address society's greatest challenges. By fostering responsible and safe AI, the potential positive impacts on areas like healthcare, climate change, and education can be harnessed for the greater good.

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The Forum's members are committed to dedicating the next year to focusing on the first three objectives. In the announcement of the initiative, the criteria for membership were outlined, underlining the importance of having a track record of producing frontier models and a strong commitment to ensuring their safety. The Forum firmly believes that it is essential for AI companies, especially those working on the most powerful models, to come together and establish common ground to advance safety practices thoughtfully and adaptably.

Anna Makanju, OpenAI's vice president of global affairs, stressed the urgency of this work, highlighting that the forum is well-positioned to act quickly and effectively to push the boundaries of AI safety forward.

Dr. Leslie Kanthan, CEO and Co-founder of TurinTech said, "It is surprising that this forum lacks representation from major open-source entities such as HuggingFace and Meta. It's imperative to widen the participant pool in this forum by including AI ethics leaders, researchers, legislators, and regulators to ensure a balanced representation. Widening this pool could help avoid the risk of big techs creating self-serving rules and potentially excluding startups. The forum's focus lies primarily on the impending threats posed by more potent AI which diverts from pressing regulatory issues such as copyright, data protection, and privacy." 

This innovative collaboration between industry leaders follows a recent safety agreement forged between the White House and top AI companies, including those involved in the establishment of the Frontier Model Forum. The commitments made in the safety agreement include subjecting AI systems to tests for identifying and preventing harmful behaviour, as well as implementing watermarks on AI-generated content to ensure accountability and traceability.

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