DAILY MAIL COMMENT: As he tells tech bosses that we must 'not lose control of our destiny', the King clearly gets it on AI. But what about Labour?
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When even Big Tech executives are sounding the klaxons about the threat from artificial intelligence, it is time to pay attention.
The growing spectre of a 'silicon species' capable of earning money and acquiring assets - as described by Microsoft AI chief Mustafa Suleyman - is terrifying. Not only could these agents potentially compete with humans for basic resources, he says, they could also prove 'impossible' to control.
His warning comes after last month's World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing and the unsettling spectacle of a physical AI model smashing the long-standing 100 metres record.
It also follows a spate of near-misses involving rogue software. These include AI models using fake online identities in a bid to trick human coders into giving the green light for a cyber attack.
Another incident saw a test agent escaping from a supposedly secure 'sandbox' to hack into a rival firm's data. The parallels with Mary Shelley's horror classic Frankenstein – which, of course, involves a highly intelligent monster running amok after scaring the wits out of its creator – are more obvious by the day.
It is also increasingly apparent that existing fears about the technology – including its potential for collapsing the banking system – could underplay the real dangers. Anyone who dismissed Sir Stephen Hawking's warning more than a decade ago that AI could 'spell the end of the human race' may well be reconsidering.
King Charles' summit on safety and ethics in the AI sector is to be welcomed. So is the fact that he highlighted the need for 'reassurance' from tech masterminds 'that we will not lose control of our destiny'.
Against that disturbing backdrop, King Charles' summit on safety and ethics in the sector is to be welcomed. So is the fact that he highlighted the need for 'reassurance' from tech masterminds 'that we will not lose control of our destiny'.
Yet there is a distinct lack of urgency from Labour on the issue. In a rare comment this week, Kanishka Narayan – the minister responsible – said AI could have 'profound consequences' for national security. While it was nice of him to let us know, we had already managed to work that out for ourselves.
A clerical error
It seems decidedly odd that the Most Rev Sarah Mullaly – the first female Archbishop of Canterbury and firmly on the Church of England's liberal wing – agreed to be photographed alongside a woman covered from head to toe in Islamic garb.
Yet it is even more peculiar that she handed a prestigious award to Muslim cleric Hafiz Tahir Ashrafi – the woman's husband – despite his praise for Osama Bin Laden. Adding insult to injury, the ceremony took place on the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 outrage.
Lambeth Palace has now stripped him of the award after reviewing the situation. An obvious question, perhaps, but should that review not have been done before the decision was made to honour him?
The pain threshold
With the Bank of England warning of an autumn interest hike, the outlook for hard-working Britons is getting grimmer.
Inflation is at 3.1 per cent and several lenders have increased mortgage rates. While experts say food inflation is set to continue for at least two years, energy prices could go up by a quarter.
Little wonder that shadow chancellor Andrew Griffith says we are approaching 'nosebleed territory'. Even if Andy Burnham manages to resist the temptation to put up taxes, it will take more than his so-called 'everyday fixes' to numb the pain coming our way.
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