The three-week international trip focusing on AI engineering, responsible and safe AI, and Australia’s stance on AI safety science, standards, and industry adoption has now concluded. Here are the highlights and key learnings from each destination visited:

Malaysia: The trip started in Malaysia where I was hosted by Aini Suzana Ariffin, a key figure behind Malaysia’s National AI Guidelines on Governance and Ethics. Participating in a roundtable with various government agencies, discussions revolved around the ASEAN Guide on AI Governance and Ethics. I then joined an industry roundtable hosted by Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade), in collaboration with the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) and Monash University Malaysia. This exclusive industry dialogue, centered on the fostering trust in AI across all sectors, promises insightful discussions on AI safety. A significant takeaway was the importance of establishing and adhering to robust metrics and methodological best practices in AI governance and ethics, beyond mere process and management standards.

Singapore: In Singapore, invited by HTX, I spoke at multiple events during HTX’s biennial TechX Summit and MILIPOL Asia-Pacific, focusing on AI in homeland security and innovation. The visit underscored the necessity of transcending model-level considerations in AI to include system-level testing and guardrails, highlighting how crucial this is for ensuring AI safety in critical applications.

United Kingdom: The UK segment included pivotal discussions on standard interoperability across emerging technologies and fortifying collaboration with The Alan Turing Institute on responsible AI. Visits to UKRI, the new AI safety institute, emphasized the need for detailed guidance on what to test and how to test at the system level that goes beyond model-level safety.

Portugal: The trip concluded in Lisbon at the ICSE 2024 conference. The focus on software engineering for AI and responsible AI was prominent, with numerous discussions on the evolving landscape of AI engineering. The importance of international research collaboration was highlighted, along with the role it plays in advancing the field of AI responsibly and safely. We also launched our new responsible AI book https://www.amazon.com/Responsible-AI-Practices-Creating-Trustworthy/dp/0138073929/ and received great feedback. It reached #17 in AI Book category!

Throughout the trip, the essential role of international agreements and collaborations in advancing global standards and best practices in AI “systems” (beyond models) was evident.