THE Artificial Intelligence Safety Summit held at Bletchley Park has once more focused attention on the growing threat this new technology brings. Governments, AI companies and experts in research united for talks on the safe development and use of frontier AI technology along with its risks, and discuss how these can be mitigated through internationally coordinated action. AI models hold enormous potential to power economic growth, drive scientific progress and wider public benefits, while also posing potential safety concerns if not developed responsibly.
Deep fakes have increasingly captured the public’s attention and there is a growing concern that what you see on TV or online might well not be the real thing.
At the start of the symposium, to illustrate how rogue states might manipulate AI, delegates were shown a short video of the UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak delivering a speech.
We reproduce the full text below, allowing TCW readers to judge for themselves just what a threat this now ubiquitous tool can be.
‘Welcome delegates, it is a pleasure to be able to address you all today, as you know I care passionately about many things. Being Prime Minister is both an honour and privilege and leading the Conservative Party is something that I am immensely proud of.
‘We are a party that stands firmly for traditional values, for family values, for fiscal prudence, for low taxation and above all we are committed to minimal state interference.
‘We are the party that stands for law and order, a society that punishes wrongdoers, but a party that recognises the role of rehabilitation.
‘We are a party that listens to and protects those least able to fend for themselves, and we appreciate the role that entrepreneurs play in growing the economy, be that with jobs or via the taxation they pay.
‘We are very much a party that cares deeply about illegal migration, we will not allow people under any circumstances to settle in the UK when they have bypassed our trusted visa programme. Those found guilty of doing so will find themselves expelled without due fuss and cost to the taxpayer.
‘We are a party that understands the financial hardship that ordinary workers up and down the country are suffering. We are doing everything we can to mitigate the cost of living. We are a party that recognises the importance of the green revolution and the huge advantages it can bring.
‘We are the party that can bring about real and meaningful change up and down the land. We are the party that will do all it can to reduce the tax burden on individuals and corporations.
‘We are the party that will ensure the NHS delivers value for money and that we will eliminate waste where it is identified.
‘We are the party that will ensure the defence of the United Kingdom and will finance the armed forces accordingly.
‘We are the party that will guarantee a good education for all children, and that the pernicious gender debate will be banished from classrooms.
‘Lastly, we are the party that will cut back the welfare state and the money that is currently spent on it.’
As the screen went blank, delegates were left stunned at how easy it had been to make the Prime Minister look completely normal yet spout such palpable rubbish. Most observers expressed worries at how less credulous individuals might be taken in by this manipulation and not appreciate that they were being ‘played’ somehow.
We can only hope that legislation is swiftly introduced by Parliament to protect voters from being unknowingly duped, and therefore unwittingly voting for someone who is to all intents and purposes a complete charlatan.
