A year ago, Rishi Sunak was warning against regulating artificial intelligence, which he views as a lucrative new industry in which Britain can be a leader. He still does – but is poised to open a global summit in the UK addressing the threats the technology poses.
Tech moguls such as Elon Musk, Open AI’s Sam Altman and representatives from governments around the world will attend the AI safety summit at Bletchley Park. As Dan Milmo tells Michael Safi, items on the agenda range from disinformation to the embedding of unconscious biases, right the way up to extinction-level events for humanity.
Milmo discusses how the promise of AI – its power to automate work, discover new drugs, provide care – are also its downsides in terms of putting people out of work, filling our timelines with lies or one day even deciding humans are not needed at all.
Photograph: Blakeley/Alamy
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