Prince Harry was mocked by social media users after a teleprompter failure interrupted his speech about the dangers of artificial intelligence in New York. The Duke of Sussex had to cut short his address to the Clinton Global Initiative on Wednesday when the device stopped working, but he returned to the stage about 40 minutes later to deliver the rest of his talk.
Social media reaction
Following the awkward moment, fans took to social media to mock the duke. One user wrote on X: “Tried lecturing on AI and froze like a broken robot. This is what happens when u outsource your brain. [laughing face emoji]”.
Another said: “I love that the teleprompter exposed him for the fraud that he is.” A third commented: “What an embarrassment he is.” A fourth added: “How toe curlingly cringe he is.”
Speech on child safety
Harry, who had travelled back to the US for his first public appearance Stateside since returning to live in the UK, urged the world not to wait and see before protecting children from online harm, saying he was speaking “as a father”.
“Innovation has never required us to gamble with our children’s lives. We should not accept that bargain now,” he said.
The duke, father to Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet who are settling into their new schools in the UK, added: “I come to this as a father — one who has shared countless conversations with other parents as they mourned the loss of their children to recklessly built technology. And as a father, I will remind you of the faces that accompanied me the last time I stood before you. Hundreds have become thousands.”
Background and context
Harry walked across the stage against a backdrop of lock screen photos of children who took their own lives or suffered serious harm through experiences on social media. He took part in the first main stage session of the day called Getting Disruption Right, and described how new lawsuits had been filed and settled, alleging that AI companion chatbots had contributed to the deaths of teenagers “who trusted them with things no child should have been left alone to ask an algorithm”.
Harry and the Duchess of Sussex’s Archewell Foundation launched the Parents Network in 2024 as a support network for parents of children affected by online harm.
