AI offers ‘huge advantages’ for humanity, Angela Rayner tells LBC
The top Labour politician has said AI companies 'have a duty of care' to ensure their products are safe
Angela Rayner has told LBC that while there are risks posed by AI, there are also huge advantages to developing the technology.
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Speaking with LBC’s Lewis Goodall on Sunday, the Secretary of State for Housing said the government is working on passing a bill which would strengthen cybersecurity and national resilience, and “taking the appropriate safe steps” to work on mitigating AI dangers.
It comes as AI leaders have said they must slow down the development of the technology following a whistleblower's concerns on Saturday that the people building AI systems believe it “could kill us all by the end of the decade.”
“There are huge advantages for us to develop AI for humanity and for governments and for the world,” said Rayner.
Read more: King to ask industry leaders how AI can be developed for ‘good of humanity’
“But there are also risks," added Rayner. "And I think we have to take stock when people raise those risks.
"That's why we've got an AI minister that attends Cabinet and that we've got this Institute for Security that works on AI.”
Britain is the second-highest recipient of AI investment in the world.
Goodall asked Rayner whether the British government would support the kind of AI slowdown that Anthropic co-founder Dario Amodei has floated in order for researchers, governments and the industry to have more time to understand and manage the risks.
Rayner said in response: “We're taking steps already, and it's right that these organisations have a duty of care to make sure that anything that they're developing is safe and proper.
“And we're working with our international partners to ensure that that happens.”
When pressed on whether the UK would actually support slowing the rate of AI development, Rayner said: “That will be a matter for the AI Security Institute and making sure that we're safe.
“And I think it's absolutely right that people within these companies have raised concerns about what could be potential negative impacts as well as the impacts positively.”
This comes as the King is set to meet with leaders of the world’s most prominent artificial intelligence companies and ask them how the technology can be developed for “the good of humanity”, it has been reported.
Charles hopes the discussions will lead to a “wider understanding” of the “responsibilities” of developing AI, a source told The Sunday Times.