The Government will “heed the warnings” of artificial intelligence (AI) experts who have highlighted the risks the technology could pose, First Secretary Louise Haigh will say on Tuesday.
The position is in marked contrast to US President Donald Trump, who has dismissed warnings about the risks to humanity posed by AI, even when they have come from industry insiders.
Ms Haigh, the de facto deputy prime minister, will acknowledge AI has the potential to transform public services, increase business growth and scientific progress.
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But at the TUC annual congress in Brighton she will say the Government is prepared to work internationally to address the risks from the technology.
She will say: “AI has enormous potential to transform our public services, make our businesses stronger and deliver new scientific breakthroughs.”
But she will acknowledge that ministers must “heed the warnings of those who are at the forefront of developing this technology” and “be ready to work with international partners” to ensure public safety and national security.
Ms Haigh will address trade unionists after Prime Minister Andy Burnham pulled out following the death of his father.
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said he understood public concerns about AI but insisted people should have confidence in the UK’s safeguards.
“We should neither be complacent nor should we be hyperbolic about this,” he told BBC Breakfast.
He said the UK was a world leader in AI safety but “it’s a difficult situation in that a lot of this technology, the frontier technology, does in the main come from the US and China”.
In the US, Mr Trump has dismissed AI fears as a “hoax” despite leading players in the industry ringing the alarm bell about the dangers from the rapid growth in the capability of the technology.
He is worried that any slowdown in US progress will hand an advantage to Chinese firms and pushed back against calls by tech leaders such as Anthropic’s Dario Amodei, OpenAI’s Sam Altman and SpaceXAI’s Elon Musk to have greater government oversight of AI.
Writing on his Truth Social platform, Mr Trump said: “The only control or “guardrails” that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT, and the U.S.A. has that, in spades!”
