'Humanity could lose control of AI', warns Sunak as British intelligence flag threat to democracy

British intelligence agencies have warned that generative artificial intelligence (AI) will pose a stark threat to political systems by 2025. The warnings were published prior to UK's stewardship of a global technology summit focused on regulatory development of AI technologies and UK PM Rishi Sunak's note of caution on the same.

The warnings were put out in a series of papers laid out by the UK government in relation to the risks and opportunities posed by AI.

What are British intelligence papers about?

The papers, based on British intelligence assessmentsof the near-term threats, pointed to "Digital Risks" such as cybercrime and hacking, as an area where generative AI models are likely to have the largest negative impact.

The papers also flagged potential threats to democracy.

"Risks to political systems and societies will increase in likelihood to 2025, becoming as significant as digital risks as generative AI develops and adoption widens," the report warns. "Threats include manipulation and deception of populations."

"Generative AI tools have already been shown capable of persuading humans on political issues and can be used to increase the scale, persuasiveness and frequency of disinformation and misinformation," the paper adds.

Another scenario outlined how automation could lead to increased unemployment and poverty by 2030 as well as "fierce public debate about the future of education and work".

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A similar scenario included the emergence of open-source AI models capable of competing with humans on a wide range of tasks "with startling autonomy and agency".

Meanwhile, ahead of a global safety summit on the tech, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that Britain would not "rush to regulate" Artificial Intelligence.

Sunak announced the creation of an AI safety body in the UK to evaluate and test new technologies.

'Humanity could lose control of AI completely': Rishi Sunak

Sunak added that that he would "push hard" for a "first ever" joint statement by global leaders about the nature of the risks posed by Artificial Intelligence.

Sunak will reportedly propose the creation of a global panel of experts to report on "state of AI" at various points of time akin to the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Financial Times reported.

Speaking at the Royal Society, the UK’s academy of sciences, Sunak while referring to the worst-case scenarios related to AI development warned that "humanity could lose control of AI completely."

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