HUMANS could completely lose control of AI and tech may be used to build bio weapons and aid terrorists, Rishi Sunak warned today.
In a major speech, the PM said managing AI safety should be a top priority just like pandemics and wars.
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The PM issued a “star warning” ahead of Britain’s AI Safety Summit taking place in Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire, next week.
The event will be attended by world leaders and tech experts, including from China.
Mr Sunak said: “Get this wrong and it could make it easier to build chemical or biological weapons.
“Terrorist groups could use AI to spread fear and disruption on an even greater scale.
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“Criminals could exploit AI for cyber attacks, disinformation, fraud or even child sexual abuse.
“And in the most unlikely but extreme cases, there is even the risk that humanity could lose control of AI completely through the kind of AI sometimes referred to as ‘super intelligence’.”
To mitigate risks, the PM pledged to use the summit to try and convince world leaders to establish “a truly global expert panel” who can publish a report on the state of AI.
He said: “Next week I will propose we establish a truly global expert panel nominated by the countries and organisations attending to publish a ‘state of AI science’ report.
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“Of course, our efforts also depend on collaboration with the AI companies themselves.”
It comes as British spooks have warned AI systems have already learnt to be “persuasive liars” and pose a serious threat to humanity.
The tech could increase the powers of cyber hackers and terrorists, while AI-generated images and videos may drive new scams such as fake kidnapping and sextortion.
In a major report, the British spooks say: “Highly capable future frontier AI systems, if misaligned or inadequately controlled, could pose an existential threat.”
They add: “AI models can maintain coherent lies in simple deception games, and larger models are more persuasive liars.”
The report raises a host of concerns that AI will boost the powers of hackers, warning of scam victims suffering emotional distress caused by fake kidnappings or sextortion.
The report says many experts, including British spies, believe it is a risk.
However, there is still time to minimise the danger
For criminals to benefit, they would need AI to “outpace mitigations, gain control over critical systems and be able to avoid being switched off”.
The report maps the “catastrophic” pathways in which AI could become a threat.
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As a self-improving system, it could harm human interests.
Without proper regulation, people risk an over-reliance on AI and may become “irreversibly dependent”.
