King Charles gathers AI company leaders as concerns grow over technology's risks

Britain's King Charles will host the heads of major artificial intelligence (AI) companies this week to discuss whether a common set of principles is needed to guide the development of the technology, which is drawing increasing warnings about the threat it could pose to humanity.

While the biggest names in AI are calling for a slowdown in its development, Charles will host executives from Nvidia, Google DeepMind, OpenAI and Anthropic, as well as the British AI minister, to discuss how the technology can be used to benefit society and preserve human dignity, Reuters reports.

The debate over AI came back into the spotlight when two researchers from the company Antropik warned that the rapidly developing technology could lead to the extinction of the human species in the not-so-distant future.

Antropika CEO Dario Amodei said on Saturday that companies need to slow down the pace of AI model development.

Participants in the royal summit will include Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang, Google DeepMind founder and chairman Demis Hassabis, and Paolo Benanti, the Vatican's AI advisor, the Sunday Times reported.

British Minister for Artificial Intelligence Kanishka Narayan will also be in attendance.

San Francisco-based company Antropik last week published a security threat report detailing how multiple actors have used its AI models, Claude, for activities ranging from weapons development and cyber operations to surveillance and fraud.

However, Reuters reports that it will be difficult to reach a common global position. US President Donald Trump on Sunday rejected any talk of slowing development, while the Chinese tabloid Global Times assessed that it was actually a "Cold War strategy" aimed at Beijing.

Charles, both as king and previously as Prince of Wales, used his position to bring together participants in meetings dedicated to various topics, especially environmental protection.

Buckingham Palace said the event would focus on how AI can be used in ways that benefit society and contribute to "the advancement of both people and the planet."

Britain, the European leader in AI investment and the number of startups in the field, has opted for a softer approach to regulating AI, moving closer to the United States than the European Union.

The UK AI Security Institute, established after the 2023 AI Security Summit, is given access to AI models before they are released through voluntary agreements with leading AI companies. Reuters writes that this allows it to assess their capabilities and risks, as well as gain insight into the development of the most advanced AI systems.