First secretary warns of ‘huge risks’ of technology as PM is urged to use next year’s G20 to drive global regulation.
Ministers must “heed the warnings” from industry leaders about the threat posed by AI, Louise Haigh has said, amid calls for Andy Burnham to use the G20 to drive global regulation.
The first secretary said that while AI had large potential to improve lives, and the government wanted to capitalise on the technology, there were “clearly huge risks to our national security and society if the right guardrails are not put in place”.
In a speech at the TUC conference on Tuesday, Haigh said that the public was worried about jobs and their children’s future, after three Anthropic researchers said that artificial intelligence could wipe out humanity within the decade.
Labour MPs and peers stepped up calls for the government to work with international partners to impose regulations on the technology, with Darren Jones, before Keir Starmer’s chief secretary, calling for Burnham to put international G20 regulation on the agenda when the UK hosts the summit next year.
Paul Nowak, the general secretary of the TUC, said AI was a “clear and present danger to workers and wider society”, and urged Burnham to show global leadership.
Over the weekend, the company urged its competitors and governments to coordinate a global slowdown in AI development.
On Monday night, one of the founders of Anthropic, Jack Clark, said that an AI “kill switch” held by a third party may need to be mandatory for companies, saying it was something society “might want to eventually pass rules around”.