South African President Ramaphosa calls on BRICS to create an AI assessment mechanism
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, speaking at the BRICS summit in New Delhi, India, called for the creation of an international mechanism for independent scientific assessment of artificial intelligence systems. He stressed that technological capabilities must not outpace people's ability to understand, oversee and control them, Anadolu Agency reports.
Risks of powerful systems
According to Ramaphosa, artificial intelligence models are becoming increasingly powerful and are rapidly changing nearly every area of economic and social life. At the same time, when used effectively and responsibly, AI can help reduce inequality, poverty and developmental lag, as well as transform healthcare, education, scientific discovery and agricultural productivity.
The South African president said that governments must take into account warnings from the developers of the most powerful AI systems. Among the risks, he named complex cyber operations, assistance in creating biological weapons, autonomous actions by systems, manipulation, mass surveillance and employment disruption. Ramaphosa also pointed to the possibility of systems emerging whose capabilities would be difficult for people to control.
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Audits and incident reporting
Ramaphosa supported calls by Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei for stronger external oversight of companies developing AI. In his view, such companies should be subject to formal external inspections, audits and government oversight. He noted that similar oversight is standard practice in aviation, pharmaceuticals, nuclear energy and the financial sector.
The South African president proposed that an AI assessment mechanism within BRICS be based on the principles of meaningful human control and provide for mandatory reporting of serious incidents. He also called for safeguards to be strengthened as AI capabilities grow and for investment in sovereign artificial intelligence capabilities for developing economies. Ramaphosa supported Chinese President Xi Jinping's initiative to create an AI ecosystem in BRICS.
