UK defends refusing to sign Nordic AI charter, citing US and China
The UK has defended not signing a Nordic charter on human control of AI, saying the leading AI powers, including the US and China, have not signed it and must be part of talks.
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A UK government representative has defended the UK's decision not to sign a Nordic charter on human control of artificial intelligence, saying the leading AI powers, including the United States and China, have not signed it. The exchange came in a political interview in which the interviewer repeatedly pressed why the UK would not back the proposal, which says humans must remain in charge of AI rather than machines being in charge of people.
The representative said the UK had hosted AI leaders the previous week and that the prime minister had used a speech at the UN General Assembly to set out the government's approach. They added that the UK wants its presidency of the G20 to be centrally focused on AI, although other issues will also be on the agenda. The central argument was that major AI powers, especially the US and China, need to be part of the conversation. The US and China have not signed the charter, the representative said, and the UK sees its G20 presidency as a chance to bring them into discussions.
The interviewer noted that Norway and Finland had put together the proposal and mentioned Finland's Alexander Stubb as a respected leader. They asked why the UK could not simply sign up to a measure whose core principle the British government would agree with. The representative did not announce any change in position, instead stressing the need for the leading AI powers to be involved.
The interview then moved to other political subjects, including the possibility that Vladimir Putin could be invited to a G20 meeting in Miami later this year. The representative said it was a long-standing convention that G20 hosts decide the invitation list, while making clear the UK's support for Ukraine and its approach to Russian policy. The discussion also touched on domestic politics in London, Brexit and Labour's electoral prospects, but those exchanges were separate from the AI charter question.
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Channel Perspectives
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ITV1's Peston treated the UK's refusal to sign the Nordic AI charter as a political accountability question, repeatedly asking why the government would not back a human-control principle it broadly accepts. The response focused on the absence of the US and China from the charter and on using the UK's G20 presidency to get major AI powers into the conversation. The programme also moved into other topics, including a possible Putin invite to the G20 and Brexit politics, but the AI exchange was the clearest news line.
- “Why haven't we signed that?”
- “Well, I think what is absolutely critical is that the leading AI powers, which of course includes US and China, are part of the conversation. They've not signed up to this charter.”
- “But I still don't understand why we wouldn't sign up to this charter.”
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