UK’s global role in AI safety ‘not diminished’ by Trump, says AI minister

LIVERPOOL, England — The UK's capacity to assume a global leadership role in AI safety remains "not diminished in the slightest" despite the Trump administration's stance on the technology, AI Minister Kanishka Narayan asserted at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool. Following President Donald Trump's declaration at the U.N.

General Assembly that the U.S. would reject any global regulation of AI, the White House reportedly informed AI companies OpenAI and Anthropic not to submit their models to the UK's AI Security Institute (AISI) until U.S. testers had reviewed them. However, Narayan maintains that the UK's pre-deployment testing advantage, regardless of U.S. first dibs, affords the country a unique global standing.

"We are in a distinctly unique place globally as the only country, outside of the countries where the labs and models are, which gets access pre-deployment in the wild," he said. The UK's AI Security Institute not only safeguards the British public through testing but also shares insights with the Americans to bolster their safety, according to Narayan.

This positions the UK in a "very unique" position, which Narayan believes has remained "not diminished in the slightest." During his address at the UNGA, UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced the UK's intention to use its G20 presidency in the coming year to negotiate global AI standards. Narayan emphasized the UK's credibility as a broker in this broader global dialogue on AI, noting that very few countries would qualify for such a role, but "I can bet you that the United Kingdom is pretty much top of that list."