The idea of artificial intelligence (AI) leading to the extinction of humanity is ‘science fiction’, says Sir Tony Blair.
His comments follow a statement signed by more than 350 executives and engineers in the field equating the existential risk from AI to pandemics and nuclear war.
‘It’s always a good thing when people put to the inventors of something like this “what’s the worst that could happen?”,’ said Sir Tony, speaking to Metro.co.uk.
‘But then you get into science fiction realms. I’m not anticipating the extinction of humanity.’
However, while the former prime minister does not fear AI taking over, he has warned that the technology must be taken seriously. Last week, alongside former Conservative leader William Hague, he released a report warning the UK risked being left behind by AI and unable to catch up.
‘We’re living through a period of 21st Century technological revolution that’s every bit as important and consequential as the 19th Century technological revolution,’ said Sir Tony. ‘It’s going to change everything, and when people say is it a good thing or a bad thing, the answer is it’s a thing that’s going to happen, and it can be good or bad at the same time.’
Reflecting concerns from Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer that AI had the potential to widen inequality, he added: ‘AI could increase inequality, or it could reduce inequality, it all depends on how you use it.
‘If we don’t make sure our young people know how this technology operates, particularly those from more disadvantaged backgrounds, it will increase inequality.
‘But on the other hand, it can also transform the education experience, and it can help us reform our healthcare system – because the only way we’re going to get the NHS back on its feet is through technology.’
In the report, titled ‘A New National Purpose: Innovation Can Power The Future Of Britain’, Sir Tony called on the government to sack its current advisors and create a new policy team reporting directly to the prime minister.
He also called for a wholesale spending review, arguing that financing the changes needed to make Britain a world leader in the field would require diverting funds from other areas of the budget on the scale of HS2.
‘AI will change the whole way we work, so the important thing is to understand it – and Britain particularly must prepare for it, because we can be a leader in this technology,’ he said.
‘But to do that we’ve got to organise government differently. We have to build the infrastructure and regulate sensibly.’
But despite criticising the government’s slow response to the technology’s rapid development in recent months, Sir Tony offered his party rivals support.
‘I think Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt understand this,’ he said. ‘They get it.
‘We use Covid as an example [in the report] because we changed the whole way government worked for the period of the pandemic. Yes, there were lots of problems and faults, as there always are in these situations, but we also accelerated the development of the vaccine in an extraordinary way.
‘We’re not saying AI is an event like Covid, but over time it will be of much bigger importance, and therefore we should be using the same mindset to reform the way government works.’
It was reported today that the government has appointed Ian Hogarth to chair a new taskforce to oversee the development and regulation of the technology in the UK, replacing the existing AI council.
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