The Group of Seven digital ministers will call for accelerated research into generative artificial intelligence systems, such as ChatGPT, at a meeting later this month, a draft communique showed Wednesday, as the rapid proliferation of such tools has raised concerns about their potential impact on society.

During their two-day talks from April 29 in Takasaki, Gunma Prefecture, the ministers aim to formulate an action plan on AI governance, according to the draft.

With the Japanese government also considering discussing generative AI at a G-7 summit in May in the western Japan city of Hiroshima, the topic is also expected to be mentioned in a joint statement by the leaders.

ChatGPT, launched in November 2022 as a prototype, stands for Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer and is driven by a machine learning model that works much like the human brain.

Trained using massive amounts of data, the tool can process and simulate human-like conversations with users, giving it utility in various fields.

But many countries have been stepping up regulations on its use over suspicions that its developer, OpenAI, illegally gathers vast amounts of personal data from users.

In addition to calling on global organizations to establish international standards for AI governance, the draft statement also proposes formulating countermeasures to tackle fake news and other forms of disinformation that have been an issue during Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The G-7 will additionally draw up an action plan for constructing secure network infrastructure to support emerging and developing countries, promote collaboration to improve the connectivity of undersea cables and address the blocking or limiting of internet access by some countries.

Establishing an international framework for Data Free Flow with Trust, a concept proposed by Japan at the World Economic Forum annual summit in 2019 to facilitate economic growth on a global scale, will also be an aim of the meeting, the draft statement showed.