Elon Musk and the UK PM to Discuss AI Risks at the Global Summit

Renowned tech billionaire Elon Musk and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak are scheduled to engage in a live interview during a global summit focused on artificial intelligence (AI). The summit, held at Bletchley Park, aims to convene AI experts and global leaders for discussions on the potential risks associated with AI.

High-profile figures like US Vice President Kamala Harris and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are set to participate. Leaders from AI-driven organisations such as OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Meta’s Nick Clegg will also join the event, along with a host of other prominent tech figures. Importantly, at least two of the so-called “godfathers of AI” will be in attendance. Yoshua Bengio confirmed his participation, and it is understood that Prof. Yann LeCun, Meta’s chief AI scientist, will be present as well.

However, Mr. LeCun stands in contrast to some of his peers, expressing scepticism about the potential threats posed by AI and even criticising the summit’s objectives on social media.

In a post on a platform formerly known as Twitter, Mr. Sunak announced, “In conversation with Elon Musk, After the AI Safety Summit, Thursday night on X.” Notably, Mr. Musk recently acquired X for $44 billion, and it has now been valued at $19 billion.

Recent developments in AI have been hailed as groundbreaking but also carry potential dangers, such as massive job displacement and the propagation of disinformation. To address these concerns, US President Joe Biden signed an executive order mandating that AI developers share safety results with the US government. However, Musk has advocated for even more robust regulations and, together with others, called for a pause on “Giant AI Experiments.” He has long been vocal about AI safety, emphasising the need for regulatory oversight to ensure public safety.

Additionally, Mr. Musk has challenged AI companies over data privacy concerns related to training chatbots. These software programmes learn human interactions by gathering vast amounts of data from diverse sources, which Musk believes raises ethical issues.