AI: Rishi Sunak says government ‘looking very carefully’ at risks after human extinction warning

Rishi Sunak has said people should be reassured the government is “looking very carefully” at the threats posed by artificial intelligence - after some of the world’s leading experts said it was a “global priority” to find ways to reduce the risk of human extinction.

The boss of OpenAI (which developed the chatbot ChatGPT) and the head of Google Deepmind are among hundreds of tech entrepreneurs, researchers and policymakers who signed a joint statement seen as the most explicit warning yet about the risks of AI.

What does the statement say?

The statement - released by the Center for AI Safety in the United States - is just 22 words long:

Those behind the statement say it’s deliberately short to cut through the noise and “open up discussion about some of advanced AI’s most severe risks”. One of those to sign it is Dr Geoffrey Hinton - described as the “godfather of AI” - who left his job at Google earlier this month so he could publicly voice his own concerns about the technology. He said he regretted his work on chatbots and suggested they might soon have more knowledge than human brains.

Why does AI pose such a potential threat?

In March, experts including the tech tycoon Elon Musk signed another open letter - saying development on AI needed to be paused because an “out-of-control race” was under way “to develop and deploy ever more powerful digital minds that no-one - not even their creators - can understand, predict, or reliably control”.

It’s already starting to have an impact on jobs - with some warning the impact on the employment market could be as seismic as the Industrial Revolution. The telecoms giant BT recently announced it could cut 55,000 posts - with some customer service staff set to be replaced by AI.

There’s also serious concern about “deepfake” video or audio recordings being released during election campaigns, influencing public opinion and disrupting democracy. Experts told NationalWorld the UK was on the ‘precipice’ of major AI interference in our politics.

However others think the risks have been greatly exaggerated. Another AI pioneer, Professor Yann LeCun - who works at Facebook’s owner Meta - said there was “still something big” missing “for machines to reach human-level intelligence” while one of the world’s leading computer scientists Pedro Domingos was equally sceptical about humanity’s demise:

What has Rishi Sunak said?

Responding to the Center for AI Safety’s statement, the Prime Minister said: “People will be concerned by the reports that AI poses an existential risk like pandemics or nuclear wars. I want them to be reassured that the government is looking very carefully at this”.

“That’s why I met last week with the CEOs of major AI companies to discuss what are the guardrails that we need to put in place, what’s the type of regulation that should be put in place to keep us safe”.

The government’s swift shift on AI strategy

In March, ministers announced a “white paper” - a document setting out how they intended to tackle AI - which focused on avoiding “heavy-handed legislation” that could deter investment in the UK’s tech sector. Instead, they wanted existing regulators to publish guidance on how to manage the risks.

That position has hardened since then. At the recent G7 summit in Hiroshima, Sunak and other world leaders agreed to “identify potential gaps and fragmentation in global technology governance”. Technology minister Paul Scully has also told MPs the government now accepts it will “clearly” have to work quickly to regulate AI.