Don't leave AI to tech bros and oligarchs, UK's AI minister says
Britain cannot let aritificial intelligence be ruled by , the AI minister has said.
Britain cannot let aritificial intelligence be ruled by "tech bros and oligarchs", the AI minister has said.
His comments were recorded the day before Barclays banking group announced it was cutting 5,000 jobs in an AI-led efficiency drive.
He was also speaking before another major AI-related development - the discovery of a cyber-security flaw affecting millions of websites , which was found with the help of AI.
These are novel vulnerabilities that we discovered in significant areas of the public sector," Narayan said, without detailing what they were.
Earlier this month, Narayan warned it was likely the UK's cyber defences will at some point be breached, after a rogue OpenAI agent hacked an Australian government website in June.
He has made a series of interventions in recent weeks after an AI safety researcher went public with claims that people building the technology believed it could destroy humanity.
As well as "pulling the lever of regulation", the country needs to build AI in Britain "so you can shape the working conditions" and avoid it all being developed abroad, he said.
Pointing to the capabilities of AI, he said the government recently used frontier AI models in Whitehall to check for cybersecurity issues.
Narayan rejected the notion that the US and China were the only powers that matter for AI, saying the UK's AI Security Institute had seen "every US lab...coming to us" asking it to test models before deployment .
Kanishka Narayan told the BBC's Political Thinking podcast that dealing with the technology requires not only regulation, but "building capability and capacity in the state" too.
What happened
Britain cannot let aritificial intelligence be ruled by "tech bros and oligarchs", the AI minister has said.
His comments were recorded the day before Barclays banking group announced it was cutting 5,000 jobs in an AI-led efficiency drive.
What changed
He was also speaking before another major AI-related development - the discovery of a cyber-security flaw affecting millions of websites , which was found with the help of AI.
These are novel vulnerabilities that we discovered in significant areas of the public sector," Narayan said, without detailing what they were.
Who is affected
Earlier this month, Narayan warned it was likely the UK's cyber defences will at some point be breached, after a rogue OpenAI agent hacked an Australian government website in June.
Why it matters
He has made a series of interventions in recent weeks after an AI safety researcher went public with claims that people building the technology believed it could destroy humanity.
As well as "pulling the lever of regulation", the country needs to build AI in Britain "so you can shape the working conditions" and avoid it all being developed abroad, he said.
Response
Pointing to the capabilities of AI, he said the government recently used frontier AI models in Whitehall to check for cybersecurity issues.
Narayan rejected the notion that the US and China were the only powers that matter for AI, saying the UK's AI Security Institute had seen "every US lab...coming to us" asking it to test models before deployment .
What remains unknown
He also said his conversations with Chancellor John Healey had hinted at a potential AI announcement in next week's Budget, though he did not say what this was.
Attribution
BBC News: Britain cannot let aritificial intelligence be ruled by "tech bros and oligarchs", the AI minister has said.