Japan's Kishida unveils a framework for global regulation of generative AI

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, left, is welcomed by France's Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, right, at his office in Paris, Wednesday May 1, 2024. Fumio Kishida is scheduled to visit France, Brazil and Paraguay. (Stephane de Sakutin, Pool via AP)

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during an interview with foreign media members ahead of an official visit to the United States at the Prime Minister's official residence on April 5, 2024, in Tokyo. Kishida unveiled an international framework for regulation and use of generative AI on Thursday May 2, 2024, adding to global efforts on governance for the rapidly advancing technology. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)

French President Emmanuel Macron, left, shakes hands with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida before a working lunch, Thursday, May 2, 2024 at the Elysee Palace in Paris. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

French President Emmanuel Macron, left, shakes hands with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida before a working lunch, Thursday, May 2, 2024 at the Elysee Palace in Paris. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

French President Emmanuel Macron, left, welcomes Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida before a working lunch, Thursday, May 2, 2024 at the Elysee Palace in Paris. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

French President Emmanuel Macron, right, hugs Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida before a working lunch, Thursday, May 2, 2024 at the Elysee Palace in Paris. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

French President Emmanuel Macron, center left, shakes hands with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida before a working lunch, Thursday, May 2, 2024 at the Elysee Palace in Paris. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

PARIS (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida unveiled an international framework for regulation and use of generative AI on Thursday, adding to global efforts on governance for the rapidly advancing technology.

Kishida made the announcement in a speech at the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

“Generative AI has the potential to be a vital tool to further enrich the world,” Kishida said. But “we must also confront the dark side of AI, such as the risk of disinformation."

When Japan chaired the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations last year, it launched a Hiroshima AI process to draw up international guiding principles and a code of conduct for AI developers.

Some 49 countries and regions have signed up to the voluntary framework, called the Hiroshima AI Process Friends Group, Kishida said, without naming any. They will work on implementing principles and code of conduct to address the risks of generative AI and “promote cooperation to ensure that people all over the world can benefit from the use of safe, secure, and trustworthy AI,” he said.

The European Union, the United States, China and many other nations have been racing to draw up regulations and oversight for AI, while global bodies such as the United Nations have been grappling with how to supervise it.