Boost for Sunak as Elon Musk says he’ll attend the UK’s AI summit

Elon Musk will attend Rishi Sunak’s worldwide summit on synthetic intelligence this week, after warning of the ‘civilisational risk’ posed by the know-how.

The world’s richest man has agreed to journey to the UK to participate within the Bletchley Park occasion, which goals to deal with the potential threats posed by the fast-developing pc techniques.

It is a major coup for the Prime Minister, who has seen a number of world leaders flip down an invite and confronted criticism at house for inviting China.

Speaking after a briefing for US senators final month, Tesla founder Mr Musk mentioned: ‘The consequences of AI going wrong are severe so we have to be proactive rather than reactive. The question is really one of civilisational risk.

‘It’s not like… one group of people versus one other. It’s like, hey, that is one thing that’s doubtlessly dangerous for all people all over the place.’

Rishi Sunak has been handed a lift after Elon Musk introduced he would attend the worldwide summit on the danger posed by AI at Bletchley Park this week

Asked whether or not AI may destroy mankind, Mr Musk mentioned: ‘There is some chance that is above zero that AI will kill us all. I think it’s low. But if there’s some likelihood, I feel we must also take into account the fragility of human civilisation.’

The summit, which brings collectively senior politicians and figures from the trade, begins tomorrow. Mr Musk is predicted to attend on Thursday, the second and remaining day of the occasion. Downing Street mentioned the PM had agreed to participate in a doubtlessly dangerous ‘in conversation’ occasion with the maverick entrepreneur on his social media channel, previously Twitter however now renamed X, after the summit.

The announcement of Mr Musk’s attendance got here after No 10 was compelled to disclaim claims that the summit is being snubbed by world leaders. The White House has confirmed that US vice-president Kamala Harris will attend, somewhat than Joe Biden, whereas Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau, French president Emmanuel Macron and German chancellor Olaf Scholz will not be anticipated to attend.

Asked if Mr Sunak felt he was being snubbed by worldwide counterparts, his official spokesman mentioned: ‘No, not at all. We remain confident that we have brought together the right group of world experts in the AI space, leading businesses, and indeed world leaders and representatives who will be able to take on this vital issue.’

Mr Musk’s resolution to the ultimate day of Sunak’s occasion comes regardless of a number of world leaders together with Emmanuel Macron and Justin Trudeau declining to attend

The spokesman mentioned it was a ‘significant achievement’ to host the primary world summit devoted to AI security.

Mr Sunak has confronted a backlash for inviting China to attend the summit.

Former PM Liz Truss mentioned she was ‘deeply disturbed’ by the choice, including: ‘The regime in Beijing has a fundamentally different attitude to the West about AI, seeing it as a means of state control and a tool for national security.’

No 10 is alleged to have been so eager to safe attendance from Beijing that an preliminary request was just lately ‘upgraded’ to ask president Xi Jinping. However, it was reported yesterday that Beijing is ready to ship solely deputy know-how minister Wu Zhaohui in his place.

Huawei provides £28m to Cambridge University

Cambridge University has secured as much as £28million of funding from Chinese telecoms large Huawei to analysis AI and cybersecurity

Cambridge University has been given as much as £28 million by Huawei to fund delicate analysis into synthetic intelligence and cybersecurity, a report has revealed.

It even acquired cash after the Government opted to ban the Chinese telecoms large from core elements of the UK 5G community in 2020, citing safety considerations.

Using Freedom of Information requests, the UK-China Transparency (UKTC) charity discovered that Huawei and its subsidiaries had donated ‘roughly £28 million’ in money for high-tech analysis since 2016. Tory MP Alicia Kearns, the chairman of the overseas affairs committee, mentioned Cambridge ought to be asking itself ‘hard questions’.

She instructed The Times: ‘Growing evidence indicates a systematic attempt by the CCP (Communist Party of China) to infiltrate British academia and exfiltrate critical research and technologies.’

But a Cambridge spokesman mentioned: ‘The university stopped all new research and funding from Huawei more than a year ago.’