King Charles to Convene AI Leaders as Calls for Caution Grow

King Charles will host the heads of several major artificial intelligence companies this week to examine whether the technology needs a shared set of guiding principles, as concerns intensify over its potential dangers.

Executives from Nvidia, Google DeepMind, OpenAI and Anthropic are expected to attend, alongside the UK minister responsible for AI. Buckingham Palace said the meeting would consider how AI can be developed in ways that benefit society and contribute to the flourishing of both people and the planet.

The gathering follows fresh warnings about the pace of AI development. Two researchers at Anthropic have cautioned that rapidly advancing systems could pose an existential threat to humanity in the not-too-distant future. The company's chief executive, Dario Amodei, said on Saturday that firms should slow the rate at which they release new AI models.

Anthropic also published a threat intelligence report last week describing how various actors had used its Claude models for activities including weapons development, cyber operations, surveillance and fraud.

Securing a common international stance is likely to prove difficult. US President Donald Trump rejected any suggestion of slowing AI development on Sunday, while China's Global Times tabloid characterised the debate as a "Cold War playbook" aimed at Beijing.

Charles has a history of using his position to convene discussions on major issues, most notably the environment, both as monarch and during his time as Prince of Wales.

Britain has taken a light-touch approach to AI regulation, positioning itself closer to the United States than the European Union, and is the European leader in AI funding and startups. Its AI Security Institute, set up after the 2023 AI Safety Summit, receives pre-deployment access to models under voluntary agreements with major companies, allowing it to assess capabilities and risks and offering insight into frontier development.