AI Safety Summit: Elon Musk mocks Rishi Sunak ahead of interview at Bletchley Park conference

Rishi Sunak has said he believes Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be the best thing that ever happened to humanity, as the prime minister prepares to talk to tech mogul Elon Musk.

The PM played up the benefits of the technology at the close of his Bletchley Park summit – claiming the conference of global leaders would be “tip the balance in favour of humanity”.

The Tory leader’s optimism came after he had gloomily claimed that AI could “pose a risk on a scale like pandemics and nuclear war”. Mr Musk appeared to ridiculed politicians’ two-faced approach to AI ahead of his discussion with Mr Sunak – suggesting in a tweet that they were hiding ulterior motives.

The X and Tesla boss shared a cartoon of leaders from UK, US, EU and saying AI posed a “catastrophic risk” – but were really concerned about developing the tech first.

Mr Sunak told a press conference at the close of the summit that there were “extreme risks of even losing control of AI completely” – and quoted Stephen Hawking saying AI can be “the best or worst thing to happen to humanity”.

The PM added: “I profoundly believe that we can make it the best [thing to happen to humanity]. Because safely harnessing this technology could eclipse anything we have ever know.”

Labour has said it would urgently introduce binding requirements for companies developing powerful artificial intelligence (AI) after Rishi Sunak said he would not “rush” to regulate the technology.

The party has promised to force firms to report before they train models over a certain capability threshold and to carry out safety tests strengthened by indpendent oversight if it wins the next general election.

The Prime Minister has said that mitigating the risks of AI should be a global priority, but that the Government will not “rush to regulate” and does not want to be “alarmist” about the issue.

Elon Musk has mocked politicians at the AI summit ahead of a headlining interview with Rishi Sunak.

Mr Musk is one of the most high-profile guests at the UK’s AI Safety Summit, which the government hopes will lead to new responsible uses of artificial intelligence and highlight Britain’s role in developing it.

But he appeared to doubt the motivations of many of the attendees – suggesting in a tweet that they were hiding ulterior motives for their concern around AI.

Rishi Sunak has defended China’s involvement in the AI Safety Summit in Bletchley Park, saying it would have been a “mistake” not to invite the Asian superpower.

The prime minister was asked during a press conference why he would trust Beijing to stick to any rules on AI when it was not included in talks on national security risks on the gathering’s second day.

He replied that that was a “very glass-half-empty way to look at it”.

“It wasn’t an easy decision for me to invite China, and indeed lots of people criticised me for it. But I think it was the right long-term decision, because any serious conversation about AI safety has to engage the leading AI nations.

“Now, I can’t predict the future and exactly how this is all going to pan out, but it would have been a mistake not to try.”

He said the desired outcome had been achieved, which included China signing up “to the same set of principles that we, the Americans and Europeans and dozens of other countries did”.

Rishi Sunak said his AI Safety Summit would “tip the balance in favour of humanity”.

Speaking at a press conference at Bletchley Park on Thursday, the Prime Minister said: “While this was only the beginning of the conversation, I believe the achievements of this summit will tip the balance in favour of humanity, because they show that we have both the political will and the capability to control this technology, and secure its benefits for the long term.”

He said this had been achieved by establishing a shared understanding of the risks, a global expert panel that will publish a state of AI science report and reaching an agreement on testing the safety of new AI models before they are released.

Rishi Sunak has said he was “delighted” that Elon Musk attended the AI Safety Summit in Bletchley Park.

At a press conference, the Prime Minister said: “Elon Musk is someone who has for a long time spoken about AI, he’s an investor and entrepreneur, he’s developed AI companies.

“As one of the leading actors in AI, it’s important that he was engaged in this summit and I’m delighted that he was attending and participating yesterday.”

Technology secretary Michelle Donelan said the government needed to manage the potential risks of AI but that the it offered “humongous benefits”.

Speaking to GB News, she said: “We have convened countries across the globe, companies that are working in this space producing that cutting-edge AI and also academics, scientists, experts from all over the world to have a conversation and work out, ‘OK, what are the risks?’

“How can we work together in a long-term process so that we can really tackle this and get the benefits for humanity, not just here in the UK, but across the globe?”

She compared it to the international effort required to tackle climate change.

“We thought that actually what we need to do is work collaboratively with the rest of the world.

“I compare it to climate change – if we just do our own work in a silo, it won’t have the same impact.”