‘Get AI wrong and it could be used to build chemical weapons’, Sunak warns

2023-10-26

Speaking at the Royal Society in London, Mr Sunak said: “Now, doing the right thing, not the easy thing, means being honest with people about the risks from these technologies. So, I won’t hide them from you.

“That’s why today, for the first time, we’ve taken the highly unusual step of publishing our analysis on the risks of AI, including an assessment by the UK intelligence communities.

“These reports provide a stark warning.

“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.

“Criminals could exploit AI for cyber-attacks, disinformation, fraud, or even child sexual abuse.

“And in the most unlikely but extreme cases, there is even the risk that humanity could lose control of AI completely.”

READ MORE: Furious Liz Truss fumes at Rishi Sunak for inviting China to major UK summit

But he insisted that it was “not a risk that people need to be losing sleep over right now” and he did not want to be “alarmist”.

Mr Sunak has said it remains unclear whether China will attend the UK’s AI safety summit next week, despite Beijing accepting an invitation to the Bletchley Park gathering.

The Prime Minister, who used his speech to give an “honest” warning about the dangers and possibilities of the emerging technology, said he could not say with “100 per cent certainty” if Chinese officials would be at the event.

The decision to invite China to the summit caused controversy in some quarters, at a time when western relations with Beijing remained tense despite recent diplomatic efforts by the UK and US.

Liz Truss, who has long pushed for a tough line on China, urged her successor to rescind the invitation and said she was “deeply disturbed” by the decision.

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The PM defended the invitation to China by saying it was “very consistent” with the UK’s foreign policy to have the Chinese present, as technology-loving Mr Sunak tries to position the UK as a world leader on regulating and managing the rise of AI.

A Chinese decision not to attend would mean that a key player in the growth of AI would be absent from the summit, which is taking place at the home of the celebrated Second World War codebreakers.

Mr Sunak said: “I know there are some who will say they should have been excluded but there can be no serious strategy for AI without at least trying to engage all of the world’s leading AI powers.”

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