SINGAPORE/BANGKOK, June 16 (Reuters) – Southeast Asian countries are drawing up governance and ethics guidelines for artificial intelligence (AI) that will put “guardrails” on the booming technology, five officials with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters. .
regulators worldwide they rush to write regulations to govern the use of generative AI, which can create text and images and is generating excitement as well as fear about its potential to reshape a wide range of industries.
Ministers of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) agreed in February on the need to develop an ASEAN “AI guide” for the region of 668 million people, but details of discussions between officials Regional politicians have not been previously informed.
Senior Southeast Asian officials said the so-called ASEAN Guide on AI Ethics and Governance was taking shape and would try to balance the economic benefits of the technology with its many risks.
“The drafting is ongoing and could be completed by the end of the year before ASEAN members endorse it,” an official told Reuters.
Another official said it could be announced at the ASEAN Digital Ministers Meeting early next year.
A spokesperson for Singapore’s Ministry of Communications and Information said that, as chair of that meeting in 2024, the country would collaborate with other ASEAN states “to develop an ‘ASEAN Guidance on AI Governance and Ethics’ that will serve as a a practical and implementable step to support the reliable deployment of responsible and innovative AI technologies in ASEAN.”
The other ASEAN countries are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Those governments were not immediately reachable for comment.
The sources declined to comment further on what the AI guidance would look like, given the early stage of discussions and the confidentiality of the ASEAN process.
The sources, which included officials from three Southeast Asian countries, declined to be named because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
ASEAN’s moves to set guidelines on AI come as the European Union and the United States are expected to publish a draft of a voluntary AI code of conduct. within weeks. The code would come into force before the EU’s groundbreaking AI Law, which is still being debated.
Like their counterparts in Europe and the US, regional policymakers have expressed particular concern about the potential for AI to industrialize misinformation.
Singapore’s Infocomm Media Development Authority warned in a research paper in June about the risk of “hallucinations,” when generative AI produces misleading content with compelling certainty.
The island city-state has been at the forefront of AI strategy in the region and is leading talks to develop the AI guide, according to three sources.
Reporting by Fanny Potkin and Panu Wongcha-um; Edited by Stephen Coates and William Mallard
Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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