Ministers must “heed the warnings” from industry leaders about the threat posed by AI as it looks to capitalise on the technology, the first secretary, Louise Haigh, will say on Tuesday. Labour MPs and peers have called for the government to further cooperate with international partners to build regulations for the technology, after three Anthropic researchers warned that artificial intelligence could kill off humanity within the decade. Over the weekend, Anthropic urged its competitors and governments to coordinate a global slowdown in AI development.
It was backed by many of its rivals including OpenAI, Google DeepMind and X’s Elon Musk. Haigh will say in a speech at the TUC congress on Tuesday that there are huge potential benefits for health and public services from the use of AI, but that the government will look seriously at the public safety and national security threats with international partners. On Monday night, one of the founders of Anthropic, Jack Clark, suggested that an artificial intelligence “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”.
One of Anthropic’s biggest rivals and the operator of ChatGPT, OpenAI, has urged the government to capitalise on renewed fears over AI safety and impose legislation reining in the technology. However, the tech company said legislation should be narrowly focused on the most advanced AI labs and not startups working on less powerful systems. Haigh, whose speech will also lay out priorities for public control of transport, water and energy, will tell trade unions: “AI has enormous potential to transform our public services, make our businesses stronger and deliver new scientific breakthroughs.” But she will say that the government must “heed the warnings of those who are at the forefront of developing this technology” and “be ready to work with international partners” to prioritise public safety and national security.
MPs and peers on the parliamentary committee for human rights on Monday called for a new regulatory framework for AI in the UK, including an independent oversight body and legislation to protect the public. It said AI posed a number of threats, from public face-scanning to explicit deepfakes and flagging disciplinary action for workers without reasonable cause. Alex Sobel, the Labour chair of the human rights committee, said the world was unprepared for dealing with the “potentially dire” consequences of a rapidly developing technology.
A government spokesperson said the UK took the risks from advanced AI “extremely seriously” and recognised the need to keep pace with the evolving technology, including working closely with AI companies and other countries. Any future measures will be evidence-based and focused on the risks we need to address,” said the spokesperson. But the business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, said on Tuesday morning that people should not get “hyperbolic” about the risks of AI.
He said he did not think it would be particularly helpful to discuss a potential AI “kill switch”, as he felt that had little practical meaning. He told BBC Radio4’s Today programme: “This is extremely powerful technology, and I think we should never be complacent or naive about the impact it might have. People will be worried by some of the things they’ve heard in the last few weeks, and I think we’ve got to be careful not to get hyperbolic about this either.
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