US, Britain, EU to sign agreement on AI standards, FT reports

The US, Britain and the EU are expected to sign the first international treaty on the use of AI that is legally binding, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.

The three would sign the Council of Europe’s convention on AI on Thursday, the newspaper said, adding that the convention was drafted for over two years by more than 50 countries including Canada, Israel, Japan and Australia.

The US was “committed to ensuring that AI technologies support respect for human rights and democratic values” and saw “the key value-add of the Council of Europe in this space,” a senior Biden administration official told the newspaper.

“It’s the first with real teeth globally, and it’s bringing together a very disparate set of nations as well,” Britain’s technology minister Peter Kyle said, according to the report.

The Council of Europe’s framework convention on AI, which addresses human rights, democracy, and the rule of law, was drafted by the Committee on Artificial Intelligence (CAI).

The CAI finalised the draft of the convention in March. Following this, the convention was adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on May 17 and will be opened for signature in Vilnius on Thursday. [Reuters]