Humans can curb impact of AI on lives as Rishi Sunak hails tech summit outcome
Rishi Sunak last night said that Britain’s summit on artificial intelligence would “tip the balance in favour of humanity”.
The Prime Minister made the claim after reaching an agreement with technology firms to vet their models before their release. Some 28 countries are at the event at former codebreaking headquarters at Bletchley Park, Bucks, alongside tech bosses and academics. Attendees include US Vice President Kamala Harris, tech tycoon Elon Musk and former Deputy PM Nick Clegg, now President of Global Affairs at Facebook owner Meta.
Rishi Sunak with Elon Musk (TOLGA AKMEN/POOL/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)The multi-millionaire Prime Minister hailed Musk the multi-billionaire owner of Twitter /X for his contribution to the technological revolution. Speaking at a press conference after the UK’s AI Safety Summit Mr Sunak outlined why he wanted to hear from Musk – also founder of OpenAI, which developed the ChatGPT system.
He said: “As one of the leading actors in AI, it’s important that he was engaged in this summit and I’m delighted that he was attending. It was around a decade ago that he started talking about some of the risks that AI could pose and the importance of governments and others doing what is necessary to mitigate against those.”
The Prime Minister with Kamala Harris at the summit (PA)Mr Musk earlier spoke of his fears for the technology’s potential as he arrived, warning: “We have a situation where there’s something that is going to be far smarter than the smartest human. So, it’s not clear to me we can actually control such a thing, but I think we can aspire to guide it in a direction that’s beneficial to humanity.”
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Their meeting came amid mounting fears of a Terminator-style “loss of control” over AI technology. Asked whether a cyborg-style rise of the machines is possible, the PM said: “People developing this technology s have raised the risk that AI may pose and it’s important to not be alarmist about this; there's debate about this.
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“There is a case that it may pose a risk on a scale like pandemics and nuclear war, and that’s why we have a responsibility to act, take steps to protect people.” Mr Sunak, also talked about the risk of AI-fuelled job cuts. “I know this is an anxiety that people have,” the PM said.
“We should look at AI much more as a co-pilot than something that necessarily is going to replace someone’s job. AI is a tool that can help almost everybody do their jobs better, faster, quicker – and that’s how we’re already seeing it being deployed.” He added: “I’m of the view that technology like AI which enhances productivity over time is beneficial for an economy, it makes things cheaper, it makes the economy more productive. But that doesn’t mean jobs can change.”
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