King Charles Warns AI Could Fall 'Into the Wrong Hands' at Dumfries House Summit

King Charles has warned AI executives about the "existential dangers" of the technology ending up in the wrong hands. He spoke at a summit he convened at Dumfries House in Ayrshire to discuss how AI can benefit society.

Attendees included UK AI Minister Kanishka Narayan, the Pope's advisor, and representatives from Nvidia, OpenAI and Anthropic. The King said there was an "urgency" in considering the risks of AI being used in "potentially catastrophic ways," and told the group their task was to keep technology "in the service of humanity, community and the natural world."

Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang said safety was "paramount," adding that companies should hold back a product and "keep engineering" if it was not safe enough. He also stressed the value of open models to ensure people and countries are not left behind.

Sir Demis Hassabis, co-founder of DeepMind, said artificial general intelligence was "probably only a few short years away" and could have an impact "ten times that of the Industrial Revolution." He put the chance of something going wrong as "definitely non-zero," but advocated for "a sensible middle way."

OpenAI chief financial officer Sarah Friar said AI could solve society's "hardest problems" but agreed its growing capabilities raised safety questions that must be addressed together.

The summit follows a wave of warnings from industry figures about advanced AI, alongside criticism from sceptics who say the focus on hypothetical future risks distracts from immediate concerns such as environmental impact. US President Donald Trump has dismissed fears about AI safety as a "hoax."

Source: BBC News