As the AI world gathers in Seoul, can an accelerating industry balance progress against safety?

The inaugural AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park in the UK last year announced an international testing framework for AI models, after calls from some concerned experts and industry professionals for a six-month pause in development of powerful systems.

More landmark developments are looming: OpenAI is working on its next model, GPT-5, as well as a search engine; Google is preparing to release Astra and is rolling out AI-generated search queries outside the US; Microsoft is reportedly working on its own AI model and has hired the British entrepreneur Mustafa Suleyman to oversee a new AI division; Apple is reportedly in talks with OpenAI to put ChatGPT in its smartphones; and billions of dollars of AI investment is being poured into tech firms of all sizes.

Smaller AI labs have experimented with such approaches, with mixed successes, putting commercial pressure on the larger companies to give their own AI models the same power. By the end of the year, expect the top AI systems to not only offer to plan a holiday for you, but book the flights, hotels and restaurants, arrange your visa, and prepare and lead a walking tour of your destination.

But an AI that can do anything the internet offers is also an AI with a much greater capability for harm than anything before. The meeting at Seoul might be the last chance to discuss what that means for the world before it arrives.