Queen's would-be assassin shows need for new AI terrorism laws, Labour says
Labour has vowed to shut down "loopholes" making it easier for extremists to use AI to recruit would-be terrorists.
Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper claimed Tory failure to react to new threats have hampered the security services.
She hit out at the Government's "disjointed, disorganised and delayed" attitude to domestic security as she pledged new laws.
Ms Cooper cited Jaswant Singh Chail, who planned to assassinate the Queen after getting into the grounds at Windsor Castle ared with a crossbow in 2021 - telling police he was "spurred on" by his AI "girlfriend".
Speaking to an audience in Westminster she said: "Generative AI takes that to a new level. Jaswant Singh Chail, who entered the grounds of Windsor Castle intent on assassinating the Queen on Christmas Day 2021, was spurred on by conversations generated by his ‘AI girlfriend’.
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Jaswant Singh Chail breached the grounds of Windsor Castle with a crossbow on Christmas Day
The would-be assassin said 'I am here to kill the Queen'"And there have been more disturbing cases where 4Chan users appropriated a Meta large language model, deliberately creating extreme right-wing chatbots to promote radicalisation."
She echoed fears voiced by Counter Terrorism Reviewer Jonathan Hall, who said current terror laws are not strong enough.
Ms Cooper said Shadow Culture Secretary Lucy Powell is leading work around the advantages and risks of AI, adding: "But we face specific security challenges, where has warned that our current legal framework on terrorism is not adequate.
"That is why Labour will criminalise those who purposely train chatbots to spout terrorist material, and we will work with the intelligence community and law enforcement on ways to stop radicalising chatbots that are inciting violence or amplifying extremist views."
The Labour frontbencher claimed that the Home Office has lost its way, telling the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI): "The sense of leadership and purpose established in the Home Office nearly twenty years ago in response to a newly dominant terrorist threat just isn’t there for the varied landscape of threats we face today."
Ms Cooper said the attempt to assassinate the Queen highlighted the need for new laws (PA)And she lashed out at her Tory counterpart, Suella Braverman, for her use of language around immigration, which she said empowers the far-right.
Ms Braverman sparked a huge backlash in October when she described an "invasion on our southern coast" following a chilling attack on a migrant centre in Dover.
"You can’t launch a culture war over national security – the stakes are too high and the risks are too great," Ms Cooper said.
"You don’t ramp up rhetoric on 'invasions' the day after a far right attack on a Dover processing centre, as the Home Secretary did. In the face of threats, we need to pull the country together."
In a wide-ranging speech, Ms Cooper said she had opposed former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's heavily-criticised response to the Salisbury poisonings in March 2018.
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Sergei Skripal, a former Russian military officer and double agent for the British intelligence agencies, and his daughter, Yulia, were left fighting for their lives after being attacked with Novichok nerve agent.
Tragically Dawn Sturgess died after spraying the dangerous substance, which was found in a perfume bottle given to her unknowingly by boyfriend Charlie Rowley three months later.
The Shadow Home Secretary said: "When Britain faced an attack on our soil in Salisbury in 2018, we made clear at the time I thought that Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader was wrong to prevaricate over Russia ’s responsibility.
"I was also appalled by the carelessness and contempt for national security that former Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson showed while Foreign Secretary at the height of the Skripal crisis, meeting alone with an ex-KBG officer, on the way back from a NATO summit on Russia, failing to even properly report it and claiming he could not even remember whether Government business had been discussed.
"As the risks and challenges to our national security become ever more complex, our country cannot afford that kind of cavalier approach from its government."
She vowed that under her leadership, the Home Office and the Foreign Office would set up a joint "cell" to end "turf-wars" and share intelligence and expertise.
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