Artificial intelligence should be designed for the benefit rather than the “ruination of mankind”, Irish premier Micheál Martin has said.

EU leaders discussed the future of AI during an informal meeting of EU leaders in Dublin on Friday.

British-Canadian computer scientist Geoffrey Hinton gave the heads of state a “stark message” on the potential of AI to destroy the world.

Professor Hinton, the Nobel Prize-winning “godfather of AI”, and Arthur Mensch, chief executive of AI start-up Mistral, joined leaders for the summit.

Mr Martin said Prof Hinton was advocating strongly for global governance and global regulation of AI.

“He made it very clear, he’s a scientist, not a policy expert, but he was clear that Europe was the bastion of regulation in relation to AI,” the Fianna Fáil leader said on Friday evening.

“It’s very important.

“So there’s a very strong platform in the European Union, in respect of an AI Act and more broader regulation, and even further regulation with respect to children, which is coming down the tracks.

“He recognises the reality of AI as it is.

“It’s a reality in the modern technological era.

“It’s going to continue to be.

“But the key message is, he was advocating strongly for global governance and global regulation.

“Europe is well placed to work on that.

“What I took from it basically was the need to, at the design level of AI, to make sure we get in at the design stage, to make sure we’re designing AI for the benefit of mankind, not for the ruination of mankind or the undermining of humankind.

“It was around that sort of sense that we need to be very conscious of the risks and sure that how we enable AI is on a positive track, that would be designed to protect people, to enhance people’s lives, as opposed to be destructive.”

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said Prof Hinton set out the “enormous risks” in AI, specifically “runaway AI”.

“But then, in the discussion, it was interesting that there was an emphasis on how can we control potential new frontier AI that is being developed,” she added.

“The analogy, for example, to the pharmaceutical sector, where you have intense testing and, of course, transparency about the product before it is released and people can use it.

“He had a strong call on Europe to be the one who initiates a global governance around AI.”

Ms von der Leyen said Europe’s AI Act first attracted criticism when it was brought in, with claims that it would “stifle innovation”.

She added: “Today, we get a lot of praise that we were the first ones to regulate AI.

“It’s not perfect, no question, but this balance between allowing innovation, but on the other hand also limiting the risks or having a clear control system, this is what we have to develop.”