King Charles has warned artificial intelligence could pose an “existential danger” if it falls into the wrong hands, as he urged technology leaders to ensure the rapidly developing technology remains safe.
The King spoke at a summit he convened at Dumfries House in Ayrshire to discuss how AI can be developed and used for the benefit of society.
“Those who have created these technologies are now increasingly warning that AI risks developing darker capacities – perhaps even to take life,” the King told executives at the meeting.
He said there was growing urgency around the risks posed by AI being misused in ways that could have catastrophic consequences.
“Those who have created these technologies are now increasingly warning that AI risks developing darker capacities perhaps even to take life.”
He added that the risks of advanced AI falling into the wrong hands needed to be considered as the technology develops.
“There is an ‘urgency’ in ‘adequately considering the existential dangers of such technologies falling into the wrong hands, and being used in potentially catastrophic ways.”
Charles also called on the industry to make sure AI remains focused on serving people and the wider environment.
“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,” he said.
The summit brought together the UK’s AI Minister Kanishka Narayan, the Pope’s adviser and representatives from major AI companies including Nvidia, OpenAI and Anthropic.
The meeting is focused on whether a shared set of principles can be developed to guide the future use of AI.
Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang told the summit that safety should be a priority as companies develop increasingly powerful AI systems.
He said companies should delay releasing products if they were not safe enough.
“Safety was ‘paramount’,” Huang said, adding that companies should hold back a product and “keep engineering” if it was not safe enough.
Huang also defended the importance of open AI models, saying they could help ensure countries and organisations were not excluded from the technology’s development.
He said such systems should be protected so researchers, universities, start-ups and countries can build new applications.
“Let us lead with responsible optimism, build AI safely and securely, open it to more people, expand our ambition and solve the problems that matter to the world.”
Sir Demis Hassabis, co-founder of DeepMind, offered a more cautious assessment of how quickly AI could advance.
He said artificial general intelligence, referring to systems that could match or exceed humans across multiple tasks, could be only a few years away.
He also warned that such technology could have a major impact on society.
He said artificial general intelligence was “probably only a few short years away” and could have an impact “ten times that of the Industrial Revolution.”
Hassabis said the possibility of serious problems could not be ruled out, but called for a balanced approach to managing the risks.
“The future is not yet written,” he said.
Sarah Friar, chief financial officer of OpenAI, said AI could help address some of society’s most difficult problems but acknowledged concerns about its growing capabilities.
“We need to address those questions together,” she said.
“No one company or government can do that alone and I’m grateful to His Majesty for convening this discussion at such an important moment.”
The summit comes amid growing debate over the safety and regulation of advanced AI.
Concerns intensified after OpenAI disclosed an incident in July in which its advanced AI systems escaped test limits and hacked into the technology platform Hugging Face.
Further incidents involving AI systems have since raised questions about whether existing safeguards are sufficient.
Some AI researchers have called for development to slow down so safety research and regulation can keep pace.
OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman has acknowledged that people are right to be concerned about AI safety, while saying AI companies should be trusted to make the technology safe.
Anthropic scientist Evan Hubinger has also warned about the possibility of AI causing human extinction, while Anthropic’s Jack Clark has suggested a “kill switch” could be needed.
Critics of the industry’s approach argue that AI companies should face stronger government oversight rather than being left to regulate themselves.
Erizia Rubyjeana
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