The Bletchley Declaration by Countries Attending the AI Safety Summit

• Authority: Other multinational
• Jurisdiction: Multinational
• Collections: Multinational;Editors' Picks
• Most recent activity: Enacted
• Most recent activity date: 2023-11-01

Risk subdomain coverage

Good coverage — Comprehensive governance measures or mitigations with clear procedures relating to the risk subdomain are explicitly described.

• AI system security vulnerabilities
• Disinformation, surveillance, and influence at scale
• Cyberattacks, weapon development or use
• Competitive dynamics
• Governance failure
• AI pursuing its own goals
• AI possessing dangerous capabilities
• Lack of capability or robustness
• Lack of transparency or interpretability

Minimal coverage — Brief mention but no specific mitigations, recommendations or governance measures relating to the risk subdomain are described.

• Compromise of privacy
• False or misleading information
• Pollution of information ecosystem
• Fraud, scams, and targeted manipulation
• Loss of human agency and autonomy
• Power centralization and unfair distribution

All other risk subdomains had no coverage in this document.

Risk Coverage Summary

The document has good coverage of approximately 10-12 subdomains, with strong focus on malicious actors (4.1, 4.2), AI system security (2.2), competitive dynamics (6.4), governance failure (6.5), and AI safety failures (7.1, 7.2, 7.3). Coverage is concentrated in security, misuse prevention, and frontier AI safety domains, with minimal attention to discrimination, privacy, or socioeconomic impacts.

Sector coverage

Good coverage — Comprehensive governance measures or mitigations with clear procedures relating to the sector are explicitly described.

• National Security

Minimal coverage — Brief mention but no specific mitigations, recommendations or governance measures relating to the sector are described.

• Agriculture, Mining, Construction & Manufacturing
• Trade, Transportation & Utilities
• Information
• Real Estate, Rental & Leasing
• Scientific Research & Development Services
• Management, Administrative & Support Services
• Educational Services
• Health Care & Social Assistance
• Public Administration (excl. National Security)

All other sectors had no coverage in this document.

Sectors Summary

This is an international declaration that addresses AI governance across multiple sectors where AI systems are deployed. The document explicitly mentions AI use in housing, employment, transport, education, health, accessibility, justice, food security, science, clean energy, biodiversity, climate, and cybersecurity/biotechnology domains. Coverage spans at least 8-10 sectors with varying levels of detail.

Legislative Status

Soft Law

Legislative Status Summary

This is a non-binding international declaration using voluntary language ('affirm', 'resolve', 'encourage') with no enforcement mechanisms, penalties, or sanctions. It represents a political commitment among nations to cooperate on AI safety rather than a legally enforceable instrument.

Actors

Proposer

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Summary: The document is a declaration by countries attending the AI Safety Summit, representing a collective statement from participating nations. The signatories are listed at the end and include 28 countries plus the EU.

Target

• Entity Types: AI_Developer, AI_Deployer, AI_Governance_Actor
• Summary: The document explicitly identifies multiple target groups including those developing frontier AI (developers), those deploying AI systems across various domains (deployers), and governments/international bodies responsible for governance. The document states 'All actors have a role to play' and specifically mentions responsibilities for frontier AI developers.

Enforcer

• Summary: The document does not specify any enforcement bodies or mechanisms. As a soft law declaration, it relies on voluntary cooperation and does not establish enforcement authorities.

Monitor

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Summary: The document establishes monitoring through an international network of scientific research and ongoing international cooperation mechanisms, including future AI Safety Summits to track progress and understanding of AI risks.

AI Lifecycle Stages

Lifecycle stages covered by the documents, as defined in the OECD Framework for the Classification of AI Systems

• Plan and Design
• Collect and Process Data
• Build and Use Model
• Verify and Validate
• Deploy
• Operate and Monitor

AI Lifecycle Summary

The document addresses multiple AI lifecycle stages with primary focus on Build and Use Model, Verify and Validate, Deploy, and Operate and Monitor stages. It emphasizes safety testing, evaluation, deployment responsibilities, and ongoing monitoring of frontier AI systems. There is minimal coverage of Plan and Design or data collection stages.

Technical Scope

Terms relating to technical scope that are mentioned or implicitly referenced in the document

• AI Models
• Foundation Models
• Frontier AI
• AI Systems
• General Purpose AI
• Task-specific AI

Technical Scope Summary

The document explicitly focuses on frontier AI, defined as highly capable general-purpose AI models including foundation models. It does not mention compute thresholds, open-weight models, or make distinctions between generative and predictive AI. The document uses both 'AI models' and 'AI systems' terminology throughout.