AI: King Charles III warns tech giants of ‘existential threats’
Opening the summit of experts on AI that he had convened today at Dumfries House in Scotland, the headquarters of his Foundation, the King stated that “it is urgent to take into account the existential risks” of artificial intelligence, which could be “catastrophic” without adequate controls
LONDON – A commitment to protect humanity and to ‘not lose control of our destiny or our souls’: this is King Charles III’s appeal to the technology companies that are developing increasingly sophisticated models of artificial intelligence.
Opening the summit of AI experts which he had convened today at Dumfries House in Scotland, the headquarters of his Foundation, the King stated that “it is urgent to take into account the existential risks” posed by artificial intelligence, which could be “catastrophic” without adequate safeguards.
“The development of AI is both fascinating and deeply worrying in equal measure,” said King Charles III. “Our humanity must remain sacred,” and those working in the sector must bear in mind that the decisions taken today will have an impact on future generations.
Many of the sector’s leading figures are attending the summit, including Jensen Huang, Chairman and CEO of Nvidia; Sir Demis Hassabis, co-founder of Google DeepMind; Kanishka Narayan, Under-Secretary responsible for AI; Sarah Friar, Chief Financial Officer of OpenAI; and representatives from Anthropic. Meta is notably absent.
Also present as Pope Leo’s special envoy was Father Paolo Benanti. There is a close alignment of views between the Vatican and Buckingham Palace on this matter, and King Charles greatly appreciated *Magnifica Humanitas*, the Pope’s recent encyclical, which emphasised the need to slow down and regulate the advance of artificial intelligence, which, according to the Pontiff, must be used for the common good and not to enrich a select few.
