MANADO, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia's Mount Ruang volcano spewed more hot clouds on Wednesday after an eruption the previous day forced the closure of schools and airports, pelted villages with volcanic debris and prompted hundreds of people to flee.
Seven airports, including Sam Ratulangi international airport in Manado, the capital of North Sulawesi province, remained closed after Tuesday's eruption, the second in two weeks. Schools were shut to protect children from volcanic ash.
The volcano is on tiny Ruang Island, part of the Sitaro islands chain.
The Indonesian geological agency urged people to stay at least 7 kilometers (4 miles) from the volcano’s crater. It warned people on nearby Tagulandang Island, the closest to the volcano, of possible super-heated volcanic clouds from a further eruption and a tsunami if the mountain's volcanic dome collapses into the sea.
Video released by the National Search and Rescue Agency showed about a hundred villagers from Tagulandang Island being evacuated on a navy ship. Hundreds of others were waiting at a local port to be evacuated.
Agency spokesperson Abdul Muhari said 11,000 to 12,000 people living within a 7-kilometer danger zone would be taken to government shelters.
Tuesday’s eruption darkened the sky and peppered several villages with ash, grit and rocks. No casualties were reported.
After Mount Ruang's April 17 eruption, authorities warned that a subsequent eruption might collapse part of the volcano into the sea.
Ruang is among about 130 active volcanoes in Indonesia. The archipelagic nation is prone to volcanic eruptions and earthquakes because of its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” a series of fault lines stretching from the western coast of the Americas through Japan and Southeast Asia.
In this photo released by the Vulcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Center (PVMBG) of the Indonesian Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Mount Ruang releases volcanic materials during its eruption on Wednesday, May 1, 2024, on Sulawesi Island, Indonesia. Indonesia's Mount Ruang volcano erupted Tuesday for a second time in two weeks, spewing ash almost 2 kilometers (more than a mile) into the sky, closing an airport and peppering nearby villages with debris. (PVMBG via AP Photo)
In this photo provided by the Indonesian National Search and Rescue Agency (BASARNAS), residents of Tagulandang island sit on a ship of National Search and Rescue Agency to evacuate after Mount Ruang releases volcanic materials in Sulawesi island, Indonesia, Wednesday, May 1, 2024. Indonesia's Mount Ruang volcano erupted Tuesday for a second time in two weeks, spewing ash almost 2 kilometers (more than a mile) into the sky, closing an airport and peppering nearby villages with debris.(Indonesian National Search and Rescue Agency via AP)
In this photo released by the Vulcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Center (PVMBG) of the Indonesian Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Mount Ruang releases volcanic materials during its eruption, Tuesday, April 30, 2024, on Sulawesi Island, Indonesia. Indonesia's Mount Ruang volcano erupted Tuesday for a second time in two weeks, spewing ash almost 2 kilometers (more than a mile) into the sky, closing an airport and peppering nearby villages with debris. (PVMBG via AP Photo)
Mount Ruang volcano is seen during the eruption from Tagulandang island, Indonesia, Wednesday, Wednesday, May 1, 2024. Indonesia's Mount Ruang volcano erupted Tuesday for a second time in two weeks, spewing ash almost 2 kilometers (more than a mile) into the sky, closing an airport and peppering nearby villages with debris.(AP Photo/ Hendra Ambalao)
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The world's leading artificial intelligence companies pledged at the start of a mini summit on AI to develop the technology safely, including pulling the plug if they can't rein in the most extreme risks.
World leaders are expected to hammer out further agreements on artificial intelligence as they gathered virtually Tuesday to discuss AI’s potential risks but also ways to promote its benefits and innovation.
The AI Seoul Summit is a low-key follow-up to November’s high-profile AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park in the United Kingdom, where participating countries agreed to work together to contain the potentially “catastrophic” risks posed by breakneck advances in AI.
The two-day meeting -- co-hosted by the South Korean and U.K. governments -- also comes as major tech companies like Meta, OpenAI and Google roll out the latest versions of their AI models.
They're among 16 AI companies that made voluntary commitments to AI safety as the talks got underway, according to a British government announcement. The companies, which also include Amazon, Microsoft, France's Mistral AI, China's Zhipu.ai, and G42 of the United Arab Emirates, vowed to ensure safety of their most cutting edge AI models with promises of accountable governance and public transparency.
The pledge includes publishing safety frameworks setting out how they will measure risks of these 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.”
On Tuesday evening, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak are to meet other world leaders, industry bosses and heads of international organizations for a virtual conference. The online summit will be followed by an in-person meeting of digital ministers, experts and others on Wednesday, according to organizers.
While the U.K. meeting centered on AI safety issues, the agenda for this week’s gathering was expanded to include “innovation and inclusivity,” Wang Yun-jong, a deputy director of national security in South Korea, told reporters Monday.
Wang said participants will subsequently “discuss not only the risks posed by AI but also its positive aspects and how it can contribute to humanity in a balanced manner."
The AI agreement will include the outcomes of discussions on safety, innovation and inclusivity, according to Park Sang-wook, senior presidential adviser for science and technology for President Yoon.
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 take away jobs, trick people and spread disinformation.
This week's meeting is just one of a slew of efforts to draw up AI guardrails. The U.N. General Assembly has approved its first resolution on the safe use of AI systems, while the U.S. and China recent 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.
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)
