MI5 boss warns that AI is ‘largest menace’ to UK’s nationwide safety after King Charles warning
One cabinet minister compared the meeting to the start of the Covid pandemic and the 2008 financial crisis when alarm bells were raised but minimal action was taken.
MI5 director-general Sir Ken McCallum
AI is one of the biggest threats to our future national security, top officials have warned. Intelligence chiefs have raised fears over hostile states like Russia and Iran weaponising the tech as well as terrorist groups.
MI5 director-general Sir Ken McCallum, MI6 boss Blaise Metreweli and Anne Keast Butler, the GCHQ director, discussed their concerns during crunch talks with ministers last week. And McCallum told them AI was “the biggest thing you should be thinking about”.
One cabinet minister compared the meeting to the start of the Covid pandemic and the 2008 financial crisis when alarm bells were raised but minimal action was taken.
It comes after King Charles recently met AI industry leaders, government ministers and experts in Scotland to chat about the challenges the bots posed. One senior Whitehall figure said the warnings from intelligence chiefs and Charles mean PM Andy Burnham should take the issue more seriously.
The insider said: “The spies are telling him to care. The King is telling him to care.” Government officials are said to be terrified at the speed at which AI models are developing.
And tech tycoons are livid with Burnham for overhauling the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and spreading the AI brief across multiple departments.
Burnham allies insist tasking all departments with tackling the tech is a better plan along with him hiring AI minister Kanishka Narayan to cabinet.
The prime minister is set to use the G20 summit in Manchester next year to agree a “global code” on AI use. A government spokesman said: “National security is the first duty of government. As AI becomes more powerful, Britain must be ready for the threats it brings.
“That means testing the most advanced systems, building our own capabilities and hardening our defences. We will do whatever is necessary to keep the British public safe.”
