Over the past few weeks, we’ve had many global concerns to worry about. As Covid variants continue to spread, a hospital trust in the UK has reimplemented masks. Meanwhile, nuclear threats keep emerging as Russia and North Korea remain on terrifyingly chummy terms. However, Rishi Sunak has now added another one to the list, and it’s not what you might expect.
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The Prime Minister announced in a recent speech that Artificial Intelligence should be considered in the same bracket of global risk as pandemics and nuclear warfare. Why? Sunak’s government has carried out a new analysis that suggests AI will pose a major security risk to the UK within the next 2 years. Here’s why the Prime Minister is worried and what he plans on doing to minimise the potential danger of this digital tool.
What Rishi Sunak said about AI in his speech
The Prime Minister spoke at the Royal Society - the UK’s academy of sciences - on Thursday 26 October. He compared the massive shift that AI has created in our society to that brought on by the industrial revolution or the arrival of the internet. According to the PM, it is very important that we develop a plan so as to avoid losing control of the technology.
Sunak said he did not want to be ‘alarmist’ but made it clear that he is concerned:
In the most unlikely but extreme cases, there is even the risk that humanity could lose control of AI completely through the kind of AI sometimes referred to as super intelligence.
Sunak suggested that the main threat is security: the exploitation of AI by criminals could see disinformation, fraud and even child sexual abuse become massive issues. He also warned about the potential for the technology to develop weapons:
Get this wrong and AI could make it easier to build chemical or biological weapons. Terrorist groups could use AI to spread fear and destruction on an even greater scale.
Sunak’s suggestions to protect the UK
During his speech, the PM announced that the UK will establish the world’s first AI safety institute. He quoted a statement made by many AI experts earlier in 2023, explaining that ‘mitigating the risk of extinction by AI’ should be a ‘global priority’.
So, how much is this going to cost? Sunak said that that the UK is building a ‘world leading capability to understand and evaluate the safety of AI models with government’:
To do that, we’ve already invested £100 million in a new task force: more funding for AI safety than any other country in the world.
He goes on to explain that the UK government has hired some of the most ‘respected and knowledgeable figures in the world of AI’. The PM believes that, bearing all of these measures in mind, it is fair to say that:
The UK is doing far more than any other country to keep you safe.
It’s true that the threat of AI has been a massive source of discussion in recent times. As NBC News reported in September, when asked whether AI will destroy mankind, Elon Musk replied:
There is some chance that is above zero that AI will kill us all.
However, we did recently ask Chat GPT who would start WW3 and it didn't suggest AI... But then again, that's just what it would say if it were planning the end of the world!
Read more:
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Sources used:
Independent: Human extinction risk from AI on same scale as pandemics or nuclear war, Sunak warns
The Times of India: UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has an AI 'warning' for humanity
NBC News: Elon Musk warns of 'civilizational risk' posed by AI in meeting with tech CEOs and senators
