Towards the end of Keir Starmer’s time in office, his senior ministers, alarmed by the latest developments in artificial intelligence, began drawing up plans for a new AI safety law.
asserted
ministers → alarm → law
They ordered a review of existing legislation to see what powers they already had, according to those briefed on the plans, and were exploring whether they could force the world’s most advanced technology companies to submit their products for safety testing before launching them.
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they → order → them
In the midst of the political chaos that engulfed the former prime minister as he fought to remain in office, however, the plans fell by the wayside.
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plans → engulf → wayside
Now, after two weeks in which the world has been warned there is a greater than 10% chance the technology could “kill all humans”, and King Charles has warned about its potentially destructive capabilities, the government’s attention has turned again to what to do about AI.
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attention → warn → AI
Andy Burnham, Starmer’s successor in Downing Street, has said relatively little about the technology in the past, and in one of his first acts in office he scrapped the department that had been leading the legislative work.
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that → say → work
But as he grapples with balancing his first budget and bringing down the cost of living, some fear the threat posed by AI has dropped off the government’s radar.
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threat → grapple → radar
“The first duty of government is to keep people safe,” said Chi Onwurah, the Labour MP who chairs the science and technology committee.
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who → keep → committee
“The government’s response to an existential threat cannot be to throw its hands up in the air and say there is nothing we can do.”
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we → throw → air
Risks v potential
Britain has been at the forefront of the debate on AI safety since Starmer’s predecessor, Rishi Sunak, decided to make it one of his top priorities in office.
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it → decide → office
Amid worries about what super-intelligent tools could do without human involvement, Sunak convened a summit in the UK and persuaded the US, EU, Australia and China to cooperate on AI safety.
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Sunak → convene → safety
Starmer was more bullish about AI’s potential “to increase productivity hugely, to do things differently, to provide a better economy that works in a different way in the future”.
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that → increase → future
The Guardian has learned that in the former technology department, Emran Mian, the lead civil servant, had plans for AI to replace almost every civil servant in the department when they retired or moved on to a new job.
But at the same time, some in government were keen to remain focused on the risks posed by the technology.
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some → learn → technology
Shortly before Starmer’s departure, Yvette Cooper, then the foreign secretary, told the Guardian she believed AI posed a Hiroshima-style risk to humanity.
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AI → tell → humanity
Starmer’s government took steps to mitigate the risks Cooper and others had identified.
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Cooper → take → risks
His government allocated £115m in June to fund a response centre to deal with incidents when AI goes rogue and for a new AI biosecurity programme.
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AI → allocate → programme
Officials in the science department also began reviewing what powers ministers had to compel companies to cooperate with the UK safety regime, and what else they could legislate for.
‘A critical moment’
When Burnham took office earlier this summer, one of his first moves was to abolish the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSit).
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one → begin → Science
Kanishka Narayan, the junior minister in charge of AI, was given a promotion promoted and placed in the Cabinet Office, where he continues to oversee the technology but without the logistical support of a dedicated department.
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he → give → department
The move alarmed some in the AI industry.
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move → alarm → industry
Matt Clifford, the AI investor who had advised Starmer and Sunak, posted on X: “Right now is a critical moment for tech as an economic and national security issue.
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moment → advise → issue
Tying up our most senior science and tech officials in a [reorganisation] wastes time and energy that’s desperately needed for the actual substance.”
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that → tie → substance
Dame Wendy Hall, a computer scientist who chaired a UK government AI review in 2017, said: “The structure was a bit bloated in DSit, but the fragmentation we have now has had a much worse impact.”
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we → chair → impact
AI safety rose up the political agenda again over the summer.
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safety → rise → summer
In July, OpenAI revealed one of its AI agents had launched an autonomous cyber-attack on Hugging Face, a real company, triggering alarm among technology experts around the world.
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one → reveal → world
Earlier this month, Jacob Coxon, a 28-year-old researcher, resigned from his job at Anthropic, claiming the company was “gambling with our lives”.
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company → resign → lives
His comments were reposted online by one of his colleagues, Evan Hubinger, who added: “We really do earnestly believe AI could kill all humans!
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AI → reposte → humans
I personally think it is >10% within the next decade.”
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it → think → decade
Just as these warnings were being made, the Financial Times revealed that Anthropic had launched the latest version of its Claude Mythos tool without submitting it to the UK safety institute first.
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Anthropic → make → institute
King Charles intervened this week, convening a meeting of AI executives in Scotland, where he told them: “The task before you is not merely to advance technology, but to ensure that it remains firmly in the service of humanity, community and the natural world.”
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it → intervene → humanity
Public concern also growing.
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concern → grow → ?
YouGov said on Friday that just over a third of Britons see AI as the third potential cause of human extinction behind nuclear war and climate change - a figure that more than doubled since last year.
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that → say → year
Two-thirds think AI has the potential to end human civilisation, a view shared by the Nobel-winning computer scientist Geoffrey Hinton, and one in six support a slowdown in AI development.
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one → think → development
In parliament, the Labour MP Liam Byrne has asked the head of the safety institute, Henry de Zoete, to testify in front of the business committee he chairs.
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he → ask → committee
De Zoete replied earlier this week, explaining that no one outside the US had been allowed to see Anthropic’s latest product before it launched and insisting that his institute could still monitor such tools after they had been released.
“We have teams of talented AI researchers working on research projects based on both pre-release and post-release testing that are fundamental to the UK’s understanding of AI risk, across chemical-biological, human influence and loss of control,” he said.
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he → reply → control
Ministers have also begun to comment.
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Ministers → begin → ?
Louise Haigh, the de facto deputy prime minister, told the TUC congress this week there were “clearly huge risks to our national security and society if the right guardrails are not put in place”.
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guardrails → tell → place
In an article in the Times, Narayan wrote: “Nothing is off the table.
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Nothing → write → table
Where further regulation, legislation, stronger protections or new powers are needed, we will act.”
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we → need → ?
Wake-up call
Byrne believes ministers had a wake-up call.
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ministers → wake → call
“I think the government is taking it seriously now,” he said.
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he → think → it
“It has become clear in the last two weeks that perhaps our safety advisers don’t have the power they need to keep us safe.
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they → become → us
…and 18 more, not listed.
The Aporia
