Dame Chi Onwurah, chair of the Commons' tech committee, has accused tech executives of “hyping up how powerful they are” to shape the debate on artificial intelligence, warning that American AI giants do not have Britain's “best interests at heart”.
Her comments follow a weekend in which top US tech bosses called for AI development to slow down. In an essay, Anthropic co-founder Dario Amodei said he was worried that within six to 12 months, AI could be capable of leading a swarm that could take over the entire internet. The essay was backed by Grok boss Elon Musk and OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman.
Separately, last week it was reported that Anthropic declined to submit its latest model to Britain's AI testing institute.
Existential threat from AI
Dame Chi agreed the world is facing an “existential threat from AI”, but warned that governments should lead on regulating the technology. She told The Mirror: “We made the same mistake with AI that we made with the internet. We're leaving it to the big tech companies.
“They said we can't regulate it because it was so fast and too complicated or we couldn't regulate it because it was global and we were just a little United Kingdom. Of course, this time, as well as all the social harms that come from the internet, we're facing an existential threat from AI.”
The Labour MP, who worked at Ofcom before entering Parliament in 2010, also raised concerns that if tech firms are allowed to lead the conversation, they could push for a regulatory model that benefits big tech firms and locks out smaller start-ups.
Concerns over tech firms' influence
Dame Chi continued: “I am really concerned that the debate is being driven by the tech bros, who have hundreds of billions of debt from data centre investment or are raising trillions from their stock market valuations.
“They are hyping up how powerful they are and trying to get regulation that increases their market value but keeps competitors out. That's why we can't let the tech bros do all the talking, they haven't got our best interests at heart.”
She added: “I'm urging the government to bring forward AI legislation which is in the interests of British people. Yes, talk to the tech bros and to UK experts and to international partners, but put first the interest of the British people.”
Paradox in AI governance
Craig Smith, Lecturer in Law at the University of Salford, highlighted “a central paradox in AI governance”. He said: “The companies creating the risks possess much of the technical knowledge needed to understand them, yet they also have commercial interests in shaping how those risks are described and regulated. The sharp market reaction demonstrates the economic power carried by statements from a small group of executives.”
He said any response should “go beyond asking companies to slow down voluntarily”, adding: “Governments need independent access to frontier models, mandatory safety evaluations and incident reporting, enforceable human-rights protections, and clear corporate accountability when harm occurs.
“Yet all this slows down the development of AI and world leaders in the AI race have already commented on their aims to win said race.”
It comes after a cross-party group of MPs and peers warned that a new AI bill is needed “to address the scale and seriousness of threats posed to human rights” by the technology. In a report published on Monday, the Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) said regulators lack the power to test and evaluate AI systems before they are released.
Chairman of the JCHR, Labour MP Alex Sobel, said: “New legislation is needed to establish a comprehensive set of protections that deal with the entire AI supply chain and its lifecycle. A single AI regulator should be established to set policy, monitor performance and with the teeth to ensure enforcement.”
Downing Street on Monday welcomed tech firms talking “openly about the risks” of AI. Asked about the new industry focus on AI safety, the Prime Minister's official spokesman said: “What the Prime Minister thinks is that it's a good thing that the companies developing the most advanced AI systems are now talking openly about the risks as well as the opportunities.
“These risks cross borders. That's why we're working closely with the companies developing the most advanced systems and with our allies and international partners.
“It's also why the AI Security Institute exists to build a rigorous, scientific understanding of the capabilities of the most advanced AI systems and the risks they pose, so that policy decisions are grounded in evidence rather than speculation.”
No10 also insisted that AI “offers huge opportunities that we want the UK to tap into”, including for transforming how public services are delivered, and raising living standards.
