AI Faith and Civil Society Commission’s Inaugural Summit
7th December 2023 - Central Hall, Westminster
Main Summit
The Commission held its inaugural in-person meeting in December 2023 in Central Hall Westminster, where the first UN Assembly was held. The venue has a storied history of discourse around faith and policy, which continues today as it seeks to host discussions that confront modern-day and emerging challenges.At the Summit, it was agreed that one of the key next steps in effective AI regulation must be to build bridges between generalists and specialists and have a more holistic approach to AI development and governance. Attendees voted that the five key values that should underpin this approach are Truth, Transparency, Justice, Trust and Accessibility. Speakers and delegates shared the importance of keeping human voices at the heart of AI development, especially bringing in the voices of society’s most marginalized and vulnerable communities.
Speakers included the technology entrepreneur Jeremy Peckham, Rev Dr Kathryn Pritchard of Lambeth Palace, Maria Harb of Stop the Traffik, Kate Devlin of Humanists UK, Clive Gilbert of Policy Connect and Graham Budd of the Faraday Institute for the Study of Science and Religion. Participants came from a wide array of faith and belief perspectives and fields of expertise.
Attendees were addressed by Saqib Bhatti MP, Minister for the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, who delivered his first Ministerial speech on AI. Bhatti has expressed a commitment to further engagement with the Commission to ensure these perspectives are elevated as the UK seeks to establish itself as the global headquarters for AI. Strategic public affairs work will continue, with an aim to establish the Commission as a regular contributor to future Online Safety Summits.
