Rishi Sunak has delivered a “stark warning” to the British public about the threat posed to humanity by Artificial Intelligence (AI), but also said it could help solve some of society’s most pressing challenges.
Speaking from Downing Street this morning, Mr Sunak set out that failing to regulate AI could “make it easier to build chemical or biological weapons”.
He also warned that terrorist groups “could use AI to spread fear and disruption on an even greater scale”.
Mr Sunak added criminals could exploit AI for cyber attacks, disinformation, fraud and even child sexual abuse.
In scenes more akin to a nightmarish Sci-fi movie, the Prime Minister said that in extreme cases, there is “even the risk that humanity could lose control of AI completely, through the kind of AI sometimes referred to as “superintelligence”.
He added that he does not want people to be “losing sleep over this right now” nor did he want to be “alarmist”.
Ahead of his forthcoming global AI summit, Mr Sunak announced the UK will establish the world’s first AI safety institute, advancing the world’s knowledge of AI safety and “carefully examine, evaluate and test new types of AI so that we understand what each new model is capable of”.
“The British people should have peace of mind that we’re developing the most advanced protections for AI of any country in the world. Doing what’s right and necessary to keep you safe”.
The speech wasn’t all doom and gloom, however, with Mr Sunak saying AI could be used to solve some of the biggest challenges we face.
He said examples could include achieving nuclear fusion, solving world hunger by preventing crop failure, creating new dementia treatments and developing vaccines against cancer.
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