The leaders of the USA, Japan, Germany, the UK, France, Italy, and Canada heard varying perspectives on AI regulation and agreed to establish a ministerial forum known as the Hiroshima AI process. The forum will facilitate discussions on generative AI and related issues, and is set to commence deliberations by the end of this year.

The G7 leaders stressed that regulations should align with their collective democratic values.

"As the pace of technological evolution accelerates, we affirm the importance to address common governance challenges and to identify potential gaps and fragmentation in global technology governance," the leaders said in a statement. 

"In areas such as AI, immersive technologies such as the metaverses and quantum information science and technology and other emerging technologies, the governance of the digital economy should continue to be updated in line with our shared democratic values.

"These include fairness, accountability, transparency, safety, protection from online harassment, hate and abuse and respect for privacy and human rights, fundamental freedoms and the protection of personal data."

The G7 urged international organisations like the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to conduct thorough analyses on the implications of AI for policy developments.

This agreement among G7 countries comes in the wake of an initiative by the EU - also represented at this year's G7 meeting - to introduce legislation aimed at regulating AI.

The legislation could be the world's first comprehensive AI law, setting a precedent for other nations to follow. The EU initiative could serve as a blueprint or model for shaping AI regulations globally.

Recent concerns about the widespread and sometimes unregulated use of AI follow the introduction of OpenAI's ChatGPT last year.