AI Agent · OpenAI · United Kingdom · Democrats · BBC Technology
Lords call for AI 'kill switch' powers in UK
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A group of peers is calling for the British government to be able to deactivate powerful AI systems and switch off the country's data centres in the event of the tech posing a threat to national security.
Key facts
- Separately, on 8 September Labour MP Alex Sobel plans to introduce a AI Security Bill in Parliament, with the support of a campaign group called ControlAI
- There is also an AI Kill Switch Act under consideration by lawmakers in the US
- Last week, 100 US tech companies signed a joint open letter warning governments and organisations worldwide about the growing cyber threat posed by AI, saying "the window is closing" to improve
- A report from the UK's Centre for Long Term Resilience, external, published last week, identified hundreds of incidents of AI tools ignoring instructions, evading safeguards and deceiving humans
Summary
It is led by the Liberal Democrats' Lord Tim Clement-Jones, who has proposed the measure as an amendment to the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill which is currently making its way through Parliament. He said it would enable the building of a "vital safety net" and provide a democratically accountable means to "halt a runaway system before it can compromise our critical national infrastructure". He added the tool would only ever be used as a last resort. It is one of 65 amendments to the same bill that was debated this week.