Politics latest news: Sunak warns AI may pose risks on scale of ‘pandemics and nuclear war’

Labour has called for Rishi Sunak to bring forward “binding regulation” on companies developing the most powerful forms of artificial intelligence. 

Mr Sunak said last week that the Government would not “rush to regulate” AI.

But Peter Kyle, the shadow science secretary, said this morning that Mr Sunak “must not hesitate to regulate” so-called “frontier models” of AI. 

He said: “AI has the potential to transform the world and deliver life-changing benefits for working people. From delivering earlier cancer diagnosis, to relieving traffic congestion, AI can be a force for good.

“But to secure these benefits we must get on top of the risks and build public trust. It is not good enough for our ‘inaction man’ Prime Minister to say he will not rush to take action, having told the public that there are national security risks which could end our way of life.”

Mr Kyle said a Labour government would “urgently introduce binding regulation of the small group of companies developing the most powerful AI models that could, if left unchecked, spread misinformation, undermine elections and help terrorists build weapons”.