Sir Ed Davey has warned that artificial intelligence is a threat to “our whole species” and needs an urgent pause in its development. The Liberal Democrat leader will compare the threat of AI to a nuclear bomb and unveil plans for an International AI Safety Agency based in Britain to help reduce the risk.
Plea to the Prime Minister
In an urgent plea to the Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, the Kingston and Surbiton MP will close his party conference by raising concerns that the world-changing technology cannot be left in the control of “tech bros”.
His intervention comes just weeks after a top safety researcher at Anthropic warned AI is advancing so quickly he believes there is a greater than 10% chance it “could kill all humans” within the next decade.
Conference warning
Sir Ed is expected to say: “Artificial intelligence is already changing our lives – in ways we notice, and ways we don’t. Handled well, it could cure diseases, make work easier, unlock discoveries we can barely imagine.
“But handled badly, it concentrates more power in fewer hands than at any point in human history. And that is a threat not only to our country and our communities, but to the future of our whole species.
“Some of the very scientists and engineers building this technology are warning that super-intelligent AI could – and this is a direct quote – “kill us all”. That is not science fiction. That is a live warning, from the people who know.
“We would never accept that with any other existential threat. And we must not accept it when it comes to AI. We didn’t leave the atom bomb to a few billionaires to police themselves.
“We built the International Atomic Energy Agency. Nations working together to control a technology that could destroy us all.”
Leadership defence
The Liberal Democrat leader will take to the main stage in Brighton just days after a Lib Dem council leader claimed the party is “sleepwalking into irrelevance” and questioned whether Sir Ed Davey was the right leader. It comes with his party stuck at around 10% in the polls, as Labour are buoyed by an Andy Burnham bounce.
Asked about his leadership and whether MPs were unhappy, Sir Ed told the BBC he was also “frustrated”. He said: “When you get elected to parliament, you want to change the world, and you realize the political system doesn't allow you, and that's pretty frustrating.
“It’s one of the reasons why I want to change our political system: people are losing faith in politics. They want to see a party that's going to change politics, and we are that party, and we're saying, if you back us, you'll see a really radical change in our politics, and that will help us fix the country.”
Sir Ed added that he was “proud” of his leadership, and offered a fierce defence of his record. He said: “We've grown really fast in recent years under my leadership. Record number of MPs. We're running more councils than the Conservatives - councils up and down the country. Really proud of that record and it means when you have a bigger party, you can't please everyone all the time.”
