Burnham says AI safety should be an issue for governments and not left to chance

Andy Burnham said he wants the UK to lead the world in developing a set of rules to prevent the spread of rogue artificial intelligence (AI), putting him on a collision course with US President Donald Trump .

The Prime Minister told world leaders he wants the UK to act as an “honest broker” to draw up “a single set of global principles and standards” for the development of frontier AI.

But his speech at the United Nations General Assembly came just hours after Mr Trump told the same event that he would resist attempts to rein in what he called “super intelligence”.

US and Chinese companies are leading the development of AI, with the White House wary of any measure which could see American firms lose ground to their Asian rivals.

Mr Burnham said the UK would use its presidency of the G20 group of advanced economies to push for international agreement on the issue, arguing it was uniquely placed to do so.

“We are America’s closest ally. We have deep ties with our friends in the EU and will deepen them further.

“We work with China and emerging powers like India and Brazil. We sit on the Security Council. In the Commonwealth. In the CPTPP. In a divided world, we have the ability to bring people together – and we will.

“We are going to step into that role. And we are going to start with one of the most significant challenges and opportunities of our age – frontier AI.”

Mr Burnham said AI had immense potential in healthcare, economic growth, transforming education and in defence.

But he acknowledged AI would be a source of disruption to jobs and said warnings from industry insiders about the technology’s potential to pose an existential risk to humanity must be heeded.

“I know how worried people are. So we have to rise to this moment,” he said.

“Fundamental decisions on this technology are too important to be left to chance. They must be taken by elected governments who serve working people.”

Mr Burnham said the UK would work towards agreeing “a single set of global principles and standards to ensure the transparency and access we need to increase our preparedness – and to ensure that AI development is safe”.

The Prime Minister has been criticised for not signing up to an initiative aimed at drawing up global rules led by countries including Norway and Finland.