International Coalition on Superintelligence Risks

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​With Duncan Cass-Beggs, Executive Director of the Global AI Risks Initiative at the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI).
​Prominent AI scientists and national security experts are raising the alarm that it may soon become technically possible to build autonomous AI systems capable of posing an extinction risk to humanity. While timelines are uncertain – with most informed estimates ranging from 2 to 10 years – recent advances suggest that AI systems could soon reach a critical threshold and feedback loop of recursive self-improvement. In this context, societies and governments must prepare now to address the most challenging AI scenarios.

​Based on current trends, the most powerful AI systems will likely be developed by frontier AI companies in the United States or China. Canada, like most other countries, therefore, lacks direct influence over the AI developments that may most affect our future. This doesn’t mean we have to resign ourselves to a fate determined by others. Along with efforts to promote AI adoption, innovation, and sovereignty, Canada can help to lead an international effort to avoid the worst global scale risks of AI – and make sure AI goes well and for the benefit of all. The challenges – technological, philosophical, political – are complex and daunting, especially under possibly very short timelines. But they are challenges most worthy of our commitment in this tumultuous and pivotal time.

​Building on CIGI’s recently published Special Report on AI National Security Scenarios, this session will lay out the key arguments for an international coalition of willing middle powers and others to lead urgent efforts to address global scale risks from AI. The session will then engage participants in a