AI Safety Week | Day 3: AI Safety as a Global Security Imperative: The Role of Middle Powers and Others in Addressing Global AI Risks

This workshop will explore the need for international cooperation to address the most severe global scale risks posed by frontier AI, and the key roles that middle powers and others can play in fostering conditions favourable to success. The findings of the workshop will serve to inform CIGI’s further engagement and recommendations to governments on these issues.

Building on CIGI’s report on AI National Security Scenarios, the workshop will begin by examining the latest developments in AI capabilities, controllability and alignment, and the implications of this for large-scale, cross-border risks such as catastrophic misuse and loss of control. Participants will then be invited to help elaborate proposals for how governments can best advance the international cooperation and agreement needed to manage these risks. These proposals include actions aimed at strengthening understanding and awareness of emerging global AI risks, designing and piloting components of future international agreements, investing in critical verification and enforcement technologies, and building the broad diplomatic support required. The workshop will conclude with practical next steps that participants can carry into policy, technical, academic, and institutional settings.