SEOUL, May 22 (Reuters) - South Korea's science and

information technology minister said on Wednesday the world must

cooperate to ensure the successful development of AI, as a

global summit on the rapidly evolving technology hosted by his

country wrapped up.

The AI summit in Seoul, which is being co-hosted with

Britain, discussed concerns such as job security, copyright and

inequality on Wednesday, after 16 tech companies signed a

voluntary agreement to develop AI safely a day earlier.

A separate pledge was signed on Wednesday by 14 companies

including Alphabet's Google, Microsoft ( MSFT ),

OpenAI and six Korean companies to use methods such as

watermarking to help identify AI-generated content, as well as

ensure job creation and help for socially vulnerable groups.

"Cooperation is not an option, it is a necessity," Lee

Jong-Ho, South Korea's Minister of Science and ICT (information

and communication technologies), said in an interview with

Reuters.

"The Seoul summit has further shaped AI safety talks and

added discussions about innovation and inclusivity," Lee said,

adding he expects discussions at the next summit to include more

collaboration on AI safety institutes.

The first global AI summit was held in Britain in November,

and the next in-person gathering is due to take place in France,

likely in 2025.

Ministers and officials from multiple countries discussed on

Wednesday cooperation between state-backed AI safety institutes

to help regulate the technology.

AI experts welcomed the steps made so far to start

regulating the technology, though some said rules needed to be

enforced.

"We need to move past voluntary... the people affected

should be setting the rules via governments," said Francine

Bennett, Director at the AI-focused Ada Lovelace Institute.

AI services should be proven to meet obligatory safety

standards before hitting the market, so companies equate safety

with profit and stave off any potential public backlash from

unexpected harm, said Max Tegmark, President of Future of Life

Institute, an organisation vocal about AI systems' risks.

South Korean science minister Lee said that laws tended to

lag behind the speed of advancement in technologies like AI.

"But for safe use by the public, there needs to be flexible

laws and regulations in place."