MILWAUKEE (AP) — Milwaukee Bucks coach Doc Rivers continues to express hope that Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard can return from injuries before the end of their Eastern Conference first-round series with the Indiana Pacers.
The Bucks played without their top two players once again and kept their season alive with a 115-92 Game 5 victory Tuesday night. Rivers was asked afterward about the potential availability of Antetokounmpo and Lillard for the rest of the series.
“I don’t know how to answer that,” Rivers said. “I know I hope. I think they’re very, very, very close.”
Antetokounmpo is dealing with a strained left calf that has kept him out for the entire series. Lillard injured his Achilles tendon during the Bucks’ 121-118 Game 3 loss on Friday.
The Bucks survived a must-win game without them Tuesday. The Pacers still lead the best-of-seven series 3-2 heading into Thursday's Game 6 in Indianapolis.
Antetokounmpo hasn’t played since straining his left calf in an April 9 victory over the Boston Celtics. The two-time MVP was struggling to run up the court in the third quarter of that game when he grabbed his left calf and took a seat on the floor before eventually heading to the locker room. An MRI revealed the muscle strain.
Lillard twisted his left knee in the first quarter of Game 3, went to the locker room and returned to the game, then hurt his Achilles late in the fourth quarter. The seven-time all-NBA guard didn't play in the Bucks' 126-113 Game 4 loss on Sunday.
Both were watching from the bench during Game 5.
“They're into it,” Bucks forward Khris Middleton said. “They're cheering us on, encouraging us. Whenever they see little something in the game, they speak to us about it. They're encouraging us. ... It's great to have their support on the bench. I wish they were out there with us, but in due time, hopefully they'll be out there soon.”
Milwaukee has managed to avoid elimination thanks largely to Middleton, who has scored at least 25 points in each of the Bucks' last three games despite dealing with a sprained right ankle.
Middleton scored 42 points in a Game 3 overtime loss and had 25 more whe the Bucks fell in Game 4. He followed that up by collecting 29 points, 12 rebounds and five assists Tuesday.
“He gave us everything tonight,” Rivers said.
Other Bucks also stepped up Tuesday. Bobby Portis bounced back from a Game 4 ejection to collect 29 points and 10 rebounds. Patrick Beverley overcame a strained right oblique and had 13 points and 12 assists. Pat Connaughton had his best game of the series with nine points and four assists.
They're hoping they kept this series going long enough for Antetokounmpo and Lillard to return.
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Milwaukee Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard watch from the bench during the first half of Game 5 of the NBA playoff basketball series Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Milwaukee Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard watch from the bench during the first half of Game 5 of the NBA playoff basketball series Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Milwaukee Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo, left, and Damian Lillard watch during the first half of Game 4 of the first round NBA playoff basketball series against the Indiana Pacers, Sunday, April 28, 2024, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
Milwaukee Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo, middle, watches along with teammates during the second half of Game 4 of the first round NBA playoff basketball series against the Indiana Pacers, Sunday, April 28, 2024, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Leading artificial intelligence companies made a fresh pledge at a mini-summit Tuesday to develop AI safely, while world leaders agreed to build a network of publicly backed safety institutes to advance research and testing of the technology.
Google, Meta and OpenAI were among the companies that made voluntary safety commitments at the AI Seoul Summit, including pulling the plug on their cutting-edge systems if they can’t rein in the most extreme risks.
The two-day meeting is a follow-up to November’s AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park in the United Kingdom, and comes amid a flurry of efforts by governments and global bodies to design guardrails for the technology amid fears about the risk it poses both to everyday life and to humanity.
Leaders from 10 countries and the European Union will “forge a common understanding of AI safety and align their work on AI research," the British government, which co-hosted the event, said in a statement. The network of safety institutes will include those already set up by the U.K., U.S., Japan and Singapore since the Bletchley meeting, it said.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the opening session that seven months after the Bletchley Park meeting “We are seeing life-changing technological advances and life-threatening new risks — from disinformation to mass surveillance to the prospect of lethal autonomous weapons.”
The U.N. chief said in a video address that there needs to be universal guardrails and regular dialogue on AI. “We cannot sleepwalk into a dystopian future where the power of AI is controlled by a few people — or worse, by algorithms beyond human understanding,” he said.
The 16 AI companies that signed up for the safety commitments also include Amazon, Microsoft, Samsung, IBM, xAI, France’s Mistral AI, China’s Zhipu.ai, and G42 of the United Arab Emirates. They vowed to ensure the safety of their most advanced AI models with promises of accountable governance and public transparency.
It's not the first time that AI companies have made lofty-sounding voluntary safety commitments. Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft were among a group that signed up last year to voluntary safeguards brokered by the White House to ensure their products are safe before releasing them.
The Seoul meeting comes as some of those companies roll out the latest versions of their AI models.
The safety pledge includes publishing frameworks setting out how the companies will measure the risks of their models. In extreme cases where risks are severe and “intolerable," AI companies will have to hit the kill switch and stop developing or deploying their models and systems if they can't mitigate the risks.
Since the U.K. meeting last year, the AI industry has “increasingly focused on the most pressing concerns, including mis- and dis- information, data security, bias and keeping humans in the loop,” said Aiden Gomez CEO of Cohere, one of the AI companies that signed the pact. "It is essential that we continue to consider all possible risks, while prioritizing our efforts on those most likely to create problems if not properly addressed.”
Governments around the world have been scrambling to formulate regulations for AI even as the technology makes rapid advances and is poised to transform many aspects of daily life, from education and the workplace to copyrights and privacy. There are concerns that advances in AI could eliminate jobs, spread disinformation or be used to create new bioweapons.
This week's meeting is just one of a slew of efforts on AI governance. The U.N. General Assembly has approved its first resolution on the safe use of AI systems, while the U.S. and China recently held their first high-level talks on AI and the European Union's world-first AI Act is set to take effect later this year.
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Chan contributed to this report from London. Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer contributed from the United Nations.
FILE - Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunk, center, speaks during a plenary session at the AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park in Milton Keynes, England, on Nov. 2, 2023. South Korea is set to host a mini-summit this week on risks and regulation of artificial intelligence, following up on an inaugural AI safety meeting in Britain in 2023 that drew a diverse crowd of tech luminaries, researchers and officials. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant, Pool, File)
A screen shows an announcement of the AI Seoul Summit in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, May 21, 2024. World leaders are expected to adopt a new agreement on artificial intelligence when they gather virtually Tuesday to discuss AI’s potential risks but also ways to promote its benefits and innovation. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
A screen shows an announcement of the AI Seoul Summit in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, May 21, 2024. World leaders are expected to adopt a new agreement on artificial intelligence when they gather virtually Tuesday to discuss AI’s potential risks but also ways to promote its benefits and innovation. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
