U.K. government’s AI lead has a message on frontier risks—it’s time to ‘harden and build defenses’
After warnings of an extinction-level event, Kaniskha Narayan, minister for artificial intelligence, wants the U.K. to take a lead on addressing the technology's threats.
Kanishka Narayan, the U.K. government's minister for artificial intelligence, has cautioned that nations must "harden their defenses" against AI risks following warnings from former Anthropic employee Jacob Coxon. Coxon expressed concern that a human extinction-level event could occur in the next decade, stating on X that "the people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade."
Evan Hubinger, an Anthropic scientist, echoed this fear, estimating the risk at greater than 10%. Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, recently warned that AI, if in the wrong hands, could drive events causing a billion deaths. Narayan, addressing the Labour Party conference, emphasized that the warnings should be taken seriously and urged the need for "hardening and building defenses."
U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham also highlighted AI as a "multiplier of risk" at the United Nations General Assembly, suggesting the U.K.'s role as an honest broker in setting global principles for AI development.
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