Rishi Sunak swerves questions about Elon Musk 'special welcome' ahead of chat
Rishi Sunak has repeatedly swerved questions on Elon Musk's character ahead of a controversial live chat between the mega-rich "tech bros" this evening.
The Prime Minister will sit down with the owner of Tesla, SpaceX and X - formerly Twitter - for a chat to be broadcast on the social media platform. He has come under fire over the meeting, but hit back when asked whether it is appropriate to give a "special welcome" to someone criticised for spreading misinformation.
The Prime Minister will talk to Mr Musk in the livestream, but swerved questions about the tech billionaire's character.
Asked whether it's appropriate to give a "special welcome" to a figure accused of spreading misinformation and endorsing unverified posts, the PM told POLITICO's Power Play podcast : "I think actually if you listen to what Elon Musk is saying, he's someone who for a long time has been talking about the potential risk of AI and its existential risks.
"But he also talks very passionately as he did today about the incredible benefits that AI can bring — and what I want to do is make sure people are reassured."
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When pressed again Mr Sunak, who will speak at an AI safety summit in Bletchley later, said: "But this is not just about him." And pushed a third time on whether Mr Musk is a "problematic person, he rambled: "What we've done here in the UK is we've passed something called the Online Safety Act, which again, I think is on the forward-leaning edge of what other countries have done," he said.
"That gives us and the regulators here the power to compel large social media companies to remove harmful or illegal content from their platforms." When asked if he'd be hammering this home to the X owner, he said: "I think you're trying to personalise it... This goes far beyond him."
In a speech at the summit yesterday, Mr Musk has said he believes AI is "one of the biggest threats" to humanity, and that the UK's AI Safety Summit was "timely" given the scale of the threat. He went on to say that AI was an "existential risk" because humans for the first time were faced with something "that is going to be far more intelligent than us"
He told the PA news agency: "I think AI is one of the biggest threats (to humans). We have for the first time the situation where we have something that is going to be far smarter than the smartest human.
"We're not stronger or faster than other creatures, but we are more intelligent, and here we are for the first time, really in human history, with something that is going to be far more intelligent than us.
"It's not clear to me if we can control such a thing, but I think we can aspire to guide it in a direction that's beneficial to humanity But I do think it's one of the existential risks that we face and it is potentially the most pressing one if you look at the timescale and rate of advancement - the summit is timely, and I applaud the Prime Minister for holding it."
Mr Sunak, speaking to ITV 1's Peston, expressed delight at Mr Musk attending the summit - given his "long track record" in the sector. He said: "What he and others have said is that we can't be certain, no-one can know with certainty about those types of risks. But people have said there is a potential for AI to pose risks that are like pandemics or nuclear wars.
"Now, even if that's a small possibility, and there is uncertainty about that because many experts say that that is not remotely going to happen, but even if it's a small possibility, because it's such a significant risk, it's right that leaders like me take the steps to protect our countries.
"And that's what I've done there. I've taken a lead, globally, in making sure that we can protect the British public against these risks, however small they might be, so that we can focus on getting the benefits of AI for our families, and health and education, and not worry about those things."
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