G7 Agrees on 1st Comprehensive International Rules for Generative AI; Also Pledge Additional Support for Ukraine

The Yomiuri Shimbun

16:36 JST, December 7, 2023

Leaders of the Group of Seven nations met virtually late Wednesday and agreed on the first comprehensive international rules related to generative artificial intelligence.

The G7 leaders also discussed the situation in Ukraine and agreed to extend new support for Kyiv, while imposing additional sanctions against Russia. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced a total of $4.5 billion in additional assistance to Ukraine.

The new rules apply to both developers and users, and reflect guiding principles for AI developers that were agreed on at the Hiroshima G7 summit earlier this year. The principles include a call for publicly reporting advanced AI systems’ capabilities and limitations, in order to ensure sufficient transparency.

As a measure against disinformation, the principles call for advancing the development of authentication technology and history management mechanisms that will permit the originators of information to be identified. This was apparently done with Originator Profile technology in mind.

The agreement reached by the G7 leaders is the result of the “Hiroshima AI Process,” in which the G7 members have discussed issues related to generative AI.

Kishida said at the videoconference, “We want to expand this process widely to the international community, including the Global South” of emerging and developing countries.

Regarding Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, the G7 leaders put forward new support measures for Ukraine’s recovery and reconstruction. “The G7’s commitment to lead the international community’s response to the aggression will remain unchanged,” Kishida said.

In a statement jointly issued after the videoconference, the G7 leaders stressed that the comprehensive international rules on AI represent “the first successful international framework that includes guiding principles and the code of conduct to address the impact of advanced AI systems on our societies and economies.”

As an additional sanction against Russia, the statement specified that import restrictions will target diamonds produced in Russia.

Regarding the Palestinian situation, the G7 leaders reiterated their condemnation of terror attacks by the Islamist group Hamas. Regarding the ground incursion by Israeli forces into the Palestinian territory of Gaza Strip, the leaders stressed the need for Israel to comply with international law, and expressed serious concerns about the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the area.

This online summit marked the conclusion as Japan’s tenure as G7 chair this year. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was also in attendance.