Artificial intelligence needs to be globally regulated before a potentially devasting display of its power, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper has warned.
She said international agreement on AI security was needed to safely exploit its potential.
Ms Cooper argued that international agreements on nuclear weapons only came about following a display of their “terrifying power” at the end of the Second World War but “we cannot afford to wait for an AI equivalent of Hiroshima”.
Earlier this month, the UN’s AI panel warned “the gap between rapidly improving capabilities and effective risk management methods may lead to catastrophic outcomes”.
The Five Eyes intelligence alliance: the UK, US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand; warned AI-powered cyber attacks could be just months away.
In an essay for the Chatham House international affairs think tank being published on Monday, the Foreign Secretary said the UK was well placed to lead work on AI safety, building on the 2023 Bletchley Park summit under then prime minister Rishi Sunak.
She said there are “clear parallels with the international consensus that the UK helped to build around nuclear safety after the Second World War”, leading to accords which allowed the development of nuclear power and the containment of nuclear weapons.
“But there are no such agreements between global powers on AI,” she said.
“On nuclear, international agreement came only after the world saw the terrifying power of the new technology at Hiroshima – and asked what would happen if it fell into the wrong hands.
“We cannot afford to wait for an AI equivalent of Hiroshima before we act.”
The essay - Britain’s Place In The New World Order – says people in the UK are increasingly feeling the impact of global instability, from rising energy and food prices to migration pressures and the risk of cyber attacks.
Ms Cooper said there was renewed competition between great powers, weakened international rules and the weaponisation of global supply chains in areas including energy and technology.
She said there was a need to “build Britain’s strength in every form, and use that strength as both a force for good in the world and, above all, a force to improve the lives of British people”.
