AI could pose new risks such as job losses or enabling biological attacks, experts say

Advanced artificial intelligence (AI) systems have the potential to create extreme new risks, according to a new international report published on Wednesday ahead of a major summit in Paris next month.

The risks include fueling widespread job losses, enabling terrorism or society losing control over the technology, experts said.

The International Scientific Report on the Safety of Advanced AI is backed by 30 countries including the United States and China, marking rare cooperation between the two countries as they battle over the technology.

Just this week, Chinese start-up DeepSeek rattled global markets with its budget chatbot.

"The stakes are high," the report says, noting that a few years ago the best AI systems could barely spit out a coherent paragraph.

"Today, general-purpose AI can write computer programs, generate custom photorealistic images, and engage in extended open-ended conversations," the report added.

Additional risks

While some AI harms are already widely known, such as deepfakes, scams, and biased results, the report said that "as general-purpose AI becomes more capable, evidence of additional risks is gradually emerging" and risk management techniques are only in their early stages.

The report focuses on general purpose AI, typified by chatbots such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT used to carry out many different kinds of tasks.

The risks fall into three categories: malicious use, malfunctions, and widespread "systemic" risks.

AI makes it easier, for example, to learn how to create biological or chemical weapons because AI models can provide step-by-step plans.

But it’s "unclear how well they capture the practical challenges" of weaponising and delivering the agents, it said.

General purpose AI is also likely to transform a range of jobs and "displace workers," the report says, noting that some researchers believe it could create more jobs than it takes away, while others think it will drive down wages or employment rates, though there’s plenty of uncertainty over how it will play out.

AI systems could also run out of control, either because they actively undermine human oversight or humans pay less attention, the report said.

However, a raft of factors make it hard to manage the risks, including AI developers knowing little about how their models work, the authors said.

International cooperation on AI safety

The paper was commissioned at an inaugural global summit on AI safety hosted by Britain in November 2023, where nations agreed to work together to contain potentially "catastrophic risks".

At a follow-up meeting hosted by South Korea last year, AI companies pledged to develop AI safety while world leaders backed setting up a network of public AI safety institutes.

The report, also backed by the United Nations and the European Union, is meant to weather changes in governments, such as the recent presidential transition in the US, leaving it up to each country to choose how it responds to AI risks.

President Donald Trump rescinded former President Joe Biden’s AI safety policies on his first day in office and has since directed his new administration to craft its own approach.

But Trump hasn’t made any move to disband the AI Safety Institute that Biden formed last year, part of a growing international network of such centres.

World leaders, tech bosses, and civil society are expected to convene again at the Paris AI Action Summit next month.

French officials have said countries will sign a "common declaration" on AI development and agree to a pledge on sustainable development of the technology.