Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Rishi Sunak has said the world owes it to younger generations to grip the risks of artificial intelligence (AI) “early enough” ahead of his appearance at the UK’s tech summit. The Prime Minister […] More
Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Boris Johnson asked whether Covid could be killed by blowing a hairdryer up the nose, according to his former top adviser Dominic Cummings. The theory was quickly dismissed at the time by scientists […] More
Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email The discussions between experts at the AI Safety Summit have avoided killer robot concerns and been more “measured” than expected, one delegate has said. Poppy Gustafsson, chief executive of AI cyber security firm […] More
Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email US vice president Kamala Harris said concerns about artificial intelligence (AI) safety had to go beyond “existential” fears about threats of cyber attacks or the development of bioweapons. The vice president, visiting the […] More
A former civil servant has said that Matt Hancock displayed “nuclear levels” of overconfidence and pretended to be a cricketer batting off challenges during the coronavirus pandemic.Helen MacNamara, who served as deputy cabinet secretary, told the Covid inquiry on Wednesday, 1 November, that she witnessed a “jarring” episode in Downing Street in April 2020.Ms MacNamara wrote in her statement that she tried to reassure Mr Hancock it must be “very hard” to be health secretary, to which he responded: “They bowl them at me, I knock them away” according to her testimony. More
Helen MacNamara has suggested the government’s focus on Brexit ahead of the Covid-19 pandemic was one of the matters that put the UK on the “back foot”.The former top civil servant also claimed that Boris Johnson’s “monomaniacal focus” was on Britain’s exit from the European Union.“Everything else could wait until after this question was settled,” Ms MacNamara told the Covid inquiry on Wednesday 1 November.She was then asked if a focus on Brexit was one of the matters that “contributed to a sense of being on the back foot” at the beginning of the pandemic.“Yes,” Ms MacNamara replied. More
Covid inquiry roundup: Lee Cain and Dominic Cummings provide worrying insight into No 10 More
Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email There is a need to “change the conversation” around the potential negative impact of AI on jobs, Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan has said. Some experts are warning generative AI, which is capable of […] More
