World leaders will focus on the environmental impact of artificial intelligence (AI) and its effects on jobs at the upcoming summit in France on February 10-11, 2024. The summit aims to explore the possibility of ranking AI companies based on their ecological footprint.
Anne Bouverot, France's special envoy for AI, emphasized the need for transparency from all stakeholders, suggesting that a ranking system could highlight companies lacking transparency regarding their environmental impact. She noted that the inability to classify a company often stems from insufficient data.
Major tech companies like Google and Microsoft have expressed concerns that their AI strategies, reliant on energy-intensive data centers, jeopardize their climate goals. The discussions at the summit will build on previous agreements made during the UK AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park, where leading tech firms and governments acknowledged the catastrophic risks AI poses to humanity.
Bouverot remarked that the discourse around AI has evolved since Bletchley, with less focus on existential risks and more on practical developments and innovations. The French summit will address five key areas: public AI implementation, adapting the workforce, building trust through safety agreements, fostering innovation, and establishing global AI governance.