Burnham warns world over AI – and sets UK on collision course with America

Andy Burnham has called for the world to unite behind global standards to control the risks posed by artificial intelligence (AI). The Prime Minister’s proposal has put Britain on a collision course with Donald Trump, who has vowed to reject any “globalist scheme” to rein in the technology. In his first speech to the UN General Assembly (UNGA) as Prime Minister, Burnham said the world must “heed” warnings about the dangers of AI and announced that Britain would use its presidency of the G20 to drive an international effort to establish global standards. Shorts “We’ve all heard the warnings – which we must heed. I know how worried people are. So we have to rise to this moment,” he told world leaders yesterday. The intervention came just days after Anthropic safety researcher Evan Hubinger warned that he believed there was a greater than 10 per cent chance AI could wipe out humanity within 10 years. It also followed the resignation of his former colleague, Jacob Coxton, who claimed the company was not “acting responsibly” to address the risk of human extinction he believes AI could pose. But only hours earlier, Trump had taken a radically different position, declaring that the US “totally rejects any attempt to construct a globalist scheme” to control AI. “We’re going to encourage it, not rein it in,” the US President said. Trump also announced that he wants AI officially renamed “super intelligence”, arguing that the word “artificial” makes intelligence sound fake. He said that, “from this point forward”, US government documents would use “SI” rather than “AI”, adding: “It’s super intelligence.” Burnham’s concerns extend beyond the potential dangers of AI itself to how the technology can be used to manipulate people. Despite their opposing views on AI, Trump lavished praise on the Prime Minister as the pair met for the first time. President Donald Trump met with Andy Burnham in New York (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson) The US President said relations between the US and the UK are “more up” now that Burnham is Prime Minister than when Sir Keir Starmer held the role. The US President opened the meeting in the margins of UNGA by praising the Prime Minister’s “great election win” in the Makerfield by-election. He continued: “That was a big one, and I think he’s going to be a great prime minister. I think he’s got a lot of assets on his side. “And we talked about everything from Rolls-Royce to energy to immigration – we covered a lot.” Elsewhere during their meeting, the US President criticised Britain’s handling of the Chagos Islands deal, which he described as a “very important piece of real estate, militarily and strategically” for both the UK and America. Trump branded the agreement to hand sovereignty of the Indian Ocean islands to Mauritius as a “terrible deal”, and suggested that the Prime Minister was “going to be looking at it”. After the meeting, Burnham told the BBC that he had told Trump he would “work hard” to find a resolution, adding: “We have got to find a resolution so work will continue.” In a press conference with Volodymyr Zelensky, Trump criticised Burnham’s predecessor, Sir Keir Starmer, for his “tough” rhetoric about Ukraine. “The rhetoric from your last prime minister was too tough,” Trump said. “He has to be a little bit careful.” Trump also said that Vladimir Putin was “willing to meet” to discuss ending the war in Ukraine. EXPLORE MORE ON THE TOPICS IN THIS STORY