EU Lawmakers Call for Summit to Control ‘Very Powerful’ AI

A smartphone with a displayed ChatGPT logo is placed on a computer motherboard in this illustration taken February 23, 2023. (Reuters)
A smartphone with a displayed ChatGPT logo is placed on a computer motherboard in this illustration taken February 23, 2023. (Reuters)
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EU Lawmakers Call for Summit to Control ‘Very Powerful’ AI

A smartphone with a displayed ChatGPT logo is placed on a computer motherboard in this illustration taken February 23, 2023. (Reuters)
A smartphone with a displayed ChatGPT logo is placed on a computer motherboard in this illustration taken February 23, 2023. (Reuters)

EU lawmakers urged world leaders on Monday to hold a summit to find ways to control the development of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) systems such as ChatGPT, saying they were developing faster than expected.

The 12 MEPs, all working on EU legislation on the technology, called on US President Joe Biden and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to convene the meeting, and said AI firms should be more responsible.

The statement came weeks after Twitter owner Elon Musk and more than 1,000 technology figures demanded a six-month pause in the development of systems more powerful than Microsoft-backed OpenAI's latest iteration of ChatGPT, which can mimic humans and create text and images based on prompts.

That open letter, published in March by the Future of Life Institute (FLI), had warned that AI could spread misinformation at an unprecedented rate, and that machines could "outnumber, outsmart, obsolete and replace" humans, if left unchecked.

The MEPS said they disagreed with some of the FLI message's "more alarmist statements".

"We are nevertheless in agreement with the letter's core message: with the rapid evolution of powerful AI, we see the need for significant political action," they added.

The letter urged democratic and "non-democratic" countries to reflect on potential systems of governance, and to exercise restraint in their pursuit of very powerful AI.

A spokesperson for von der Leyen did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Last week China's cyberspace regulator unveiled draft measures for managing generative AI services, saying it wants firms to submit security assessments to authorities before they launch their offerings to the public.

The Biden administration has also been seeking public comments on potential accountability measures for AI systems as questions loom about their impact on national security and education.

The European Commission proposed the draft rules for an AI Act nearly two years ago under which AI tools are expected to be classified according to their perceived level of risk, from low to unacceptable.

A parliamentary committee is debating the 108-page bill and hoping to reach a common position by April 26, according to two sources familiar with the matter.



China’s Xi Calls for Self-Sufficiency in AI Development amid US Rivalry

 In this photo released by Malaysia's Department of Information, China's President Xi Jinping waves upon his departure to Cambodia at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang, Malaysia Thursday, April 17, 2025. (Malaysia's Department of Information via AP)
In this photo released by Malaysia's Department of Information, China's President Xi Jinping waves upon his departure to Cambodia at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang, Malaysia Thursday, April 17, 2025. (Malaysia's Department of Information via AP)
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China’s Xi Calls for Self-Sufficiency in AI Development amid US Rivalry

 In this photo released by Malaysia's Department of Information, China's President Xi Jinping waves upon his departure to Cambodia at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang, Malaysia Thursday, April 17, 2025. (Malaysia's Department of Information via AP)
In this photo released by Malaysia's Department of Information, China's President Xi Jinping waves upon his departure to Cambodia at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang, Malaysia Thursday, April 17, 2025. (Malaysia's Department of Information via AP)

China's President Xi Jinping pledged "self-reliance and self-strengthening" to develop AI in China, state media reported on Saturday, as the country vies with the US for supremacy in artificial intelligence, a key strategic area.

Speaking at a Politburo meeting study session on Friday, Xi said China should leverage its "new whole national system" to push forward with the development of AI.

"We must recognize the gaps and redouble our efforts to comprehensively advance technological innovation, industrial development, and AI-empowered applications," said Xi, according to the official Xinhua news agency. Xi noted policy support would be provided in areas such as government procurement, intellectual property rights, research and cultivating talent.

Some experts say China has narrowed the AI development gap with the United States over the past year. The Chinese AI startup DeepSeek drew global attention when it launched an AI reasoning model in January that it said was trained with less advanced chips and was cheaper to develop than its Western rivals. China has also made inroads in infrastructure software engineering.

The DeepSeek announcement challenged the assumption that US sanctions were holding back China's AI sector amid a fierce geopolitical tech rivalry, and that China lagged the US after the breakthrough launch of OpenAI's ChatGPT in late 2022.

"We must continue to strengthen basic research, concentrate our efforts on mastering core technologies such as high-end chips and basic software, and build an independent, controllable, and collaborative artificial intelligence basic software and hardware system," Xi said.

He added that AI regulations and laws should be speeded up to build a "risk warning and emergency response system, to ensure that artificial intelligence is safe, reliable, and controllable."

Xi said last year that AI shouldn't be a "game of rich countries and the wealthy," while calling for more international governance and cooperation on AI.