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Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailArtificial intelligence (AI) can be a “sword and a shield” against harmful content, not just a tool to spread it, Sir Nick Clegg has said.The former Liberal Democrat deputy prime minister is now the head of global affairs at tech giant Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.Speaking during an AI event at Meta’s London offices, Sir Nick said that while it was “right” to be “vigilant” about generative AI being used to create disinformation to disrupt elections, he said AI was the “single biggest reason” Meta was getting better at reducing the spread of “bad content” on its platforms.I would urge everyone… to think of AI as a sword, not just a shield, when it comes to bad contentSir Nick CleggIn 2024, billions of people are set to go to the polls with elections due in a number of the world’s largest democracies, including the UK, US and India.It has led some experts to warn of the potential threat posed by the rapid rise of generative AI tools – including image, text and audio content apps – and the possibility of them being used to spread misinformation and disinformation with the aim of disrupting democratic processes.A number of senior UK politicians have already been the subjects of so-called deepfakes, which have spread on social media.And on Tuesday, fact-checking charity Full Fact said the UK was currently vulnerable to misinformation, and more government intervention was needed on the issue with elections on the horizon.Sir Nick said focus on the issue was important, but argued that good AI was potent protection against bad AI, and that Meta and others had the tools needed to fight the spread of harmful material.“I would urge everyone – yes, there are risks – but to also think of AI as a sword, not just a shield, when it comes to bad content,” he said.“If you look at Meta, the world’s largest social media platform, the single biggest reason why we’re getting better and better in reducing the bad content that we don’t want on Instagram and Facebook is for one reason; AI.”He added that the use of AI to scan Meta’s platforms to find and remove harmful content had reduced the levels of bad content by “50 to 60% over the last two years” meaning that now “for every 10,000 bits of content, one bit of content might be hate speech”.“Some of the work teams have been doing inside Meta to improve the way that we use our most advanced AI tools to triage content, so that we make sure that the 40,000 people we have working on content moderation really look at the most acute edge cases and they don’t waste a lot of their time looking at stuff that is inoffensive or not a problem has really improved rapidly in recent months,” he said.“It is right that there is an increasingly high level of industry wide cooperation, particularly this year because of this unprecedented number of elections.“We should be vigilant, but I would urge you to also think of AI as a great tool to navigate that difficult landscape and I’m quietly optimistic that the whole industry is trying to really lean into this as cooperatively as possible.”During the event, Sir Nick also announced that Meta’s next AI large language model – used to power AI tools, including chatbots built by Meta and other firms – would be released shortly.Sir Nick said the new model, known as Llama 3, would begin to roll out “within the next month, hopefully less” and would continue over the course of the year. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailLord Cameron held a face-to-face meeting with Donald Trump in Florida as part of a charm offensive designed to secure more US funding for the war in Ukraine.The foreign secretary visited the former US president at his Mar-a-Lago resort despite previously calling him “protectionist, xenophobic, [and] misogynistic” and denouncing one of his policies as “divisive, stupid and wrong”. It was the first meeting between a senior minister and Mr Trump since he left office in 2021. As well as Ukraine, the two men are understood to have talked about the strength of the UK-US relations, the so-called ‘special relationship’, and other foreign policy issues. Lord Cameron is on a high-profile visit to the US to press Republicans to pass the blocked aid package for Ukraine and will also discuss Israel’s war in Gaza.It is the latest in a series of interventions made by the foreign secretary over the support for Ukraine’s battle against Russia.Earlier this year, he warned Congress not to show “the weakness displayed against Hitler” in the 1930s.That comment drew the ire of right-wing congresswoman and staunch Trump ally Marjorie Taylor Greene, who told him to “kiss my ass” and “worry about his own country”.Lord Cameron flew to Florida to meet Mr Trump on Monday night. The Foreign Office insisted that it was “standard practice for ministers to meet with opposition candidates as part of their routine international engagement.”But it is not the first time Lord Cameron’s decision to meet a presedential candidate has raised eyerbrows. In 2012, when he was prime minister, he met the Republican candidate for president Mitt Romney during a campaigning and fundraising trip to London. During his visit, Lord Cameron is hoping for a breakthrough with Republicans who have been blocking a $60bn (over £47.5bn) military aid package for Ukraine, now into the second year of its war with Russia.He will hold talks with US secretary of state Antony Blinken and key figures across Congress on Tuesday to call them to “change the narrative on Ukraine this year” and release the funding.He will tell the American leaders that the “success for Ukraine and failure for [Vladimir] Putin are vital for American and European security”.“This will show that borders matter, that aggression doesn’t pay and that countries like Ukraine are free to choose their own future,” the Foreign Office said.“The alternative would only encourage Putin in further attempts to re-draw European borders by force, and would be heard clearly in Beijing, Tehran and North Korea.“US support for Ukraine has massively degraded the military capacity of a common adversary, Russia has lost half of its pre-invasion land combat power, and a quarter of its original Black Sea fleet, while creating jobs at home and strengthening the Western alliance and Nato.”Republicans within the US Congress have blocked the latest tranche of the package to Ukraine for months. The Republicans in the House of Representatives have demanded concessions on border security before supporting the bill.The former president, who has claimed he would end the war in Ukraine “in one day”, has long been critical of the huge amount of economic and military aid the US has given Ukraine. Last month he appeared to soften his tone on Nato in the wake of uproar after he said he would encourage Russia to do “whatever the hell they want” to members who don’t pay their fair share.In 2015, Mr Cameron described the former Republican president’s “Muslim ban” travel policy as “divisive, stupid and wrong” and criticised his disagreement with Ukraine aid as “not a sensible approach”.Ms Taylor-Greene’s outburst came in response to an article by Lord Cameron cautioning the US against mirroring “the weakness displayed against Hitler in the 1930s”.The Foreign Office said the talks with Mr Blinken and other Biden administration officials will also focus on the ceasefire in Gaza and the delivery of more aid to the region.He will also “push for a full, urgent, and transparent investigation into the terrible events in Gaza” after the “completely unacceptable” deaths of three British men working for aid organisation World Central Kitchen in the Israeli drone strike. Both Mr Trump and the White House have been approached for comment. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailFormer home secretary Suella Braverman has defended Israel’s actions in Gaza and insisted the country is doing a “huge amount” to comply with international law.Her comments come amidst mouting international and domestic pressure on Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to respond to the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe in Palestine and the death of three British aidworkers last week.The Tory MP for Fareham said she “strongly rebuts” suggestions that Israel is in breach of international law: “I have probed and I have tested, I’ve been very near to the border in Gaza and I am convinced – and I say this as a former attorney general who dealt with matters of international law and military action – that I very strongly rebut suggestions that Israel is in breach of international law, that there’s a genocide, that there’s a forced starvation.“Quite the contrary,” she told told LBC radio . “Israel is doing a huge amount using technology, sophisticated methods, and a lot of care to minimise civilian casualties, to get aid into Gaza and to comply with international law.”Former home secretary Suella Braverman has defended Israel’s actions in Gaza More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailLiz Truss has revealed the late Queen Elizabeth II told her to “pace yourself” during their first and final meeting as prime minister.In her new book, Ten Years to Save the West, Truss admitted she did not take the monarch’s advice when they met in September 2022 to confirm her as Britain’s new prime minister.Of her historic meeting at Balmoral in Scotland, which occured just two days before the monarch’s death, Truss says the 96-year-old the Queen “seemed to have grown frailer” since she had last been in the public eye.“We spent around 20 minutes discussing politics. She was completely attuned to everything that was happening, as well as being typically sharp and witty,” she writes.“Towards the end of our discussion, she warned me that being prime minister is incredibly aging. She also gave me two words of advice: ‘Pace yourself.’ Maybe I should have listened.”At the meeting, the Queen was pictured using a walking stick and smiling warmly as she greeted Ms Truss in front of an open fire in her sitting room.At the meeting, the monarch, using a walking stick, was pictured smiling warmly as she greeted Ms Truss in front of an open fire in her sitting room at the castle More

Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UKSign up to our Brexit email for the latest insightRachel Johnson has said “Brexit is a s*** idea” and suggested her brother, Boris Johnson, thinks the same, in a resurfaced interview. Speaking on a Norwegian talk show presented by Fredrik Skavlan, Ms Johnson revealed Brexit “divided the family”. “Brexit has divided the family. Mainly into members who think Brexit is a s**t idea, and those who think it’s a really s**t idea,” she said. Ms Johnson then apologised for her language before being told it is okay to swear because she is “in a free country now”. “This is what I was getting to.. Nothing nothing nothing, that Brexit is anything but a bad idea,” the journalist added. During the Brexit campaign, the Johnson family publicly showed their division over the European Union. Boris Johnson and Rachel Johnson More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailThere aren’t many in Westminster who could namecheck the Krays, armed robberies, and their mother being born in prison when giving a summary of their family background.But Wes Streeting, who currently serves as Labour’s shadow health secretary and is frequently tipped as a future party leader, isn’t typical of most politicians.Now 41 years old, the MP for Ilford North has become one of the loudest and most forthright voices on Sir Keir Starmer’s front bench, appearing to embody the type of messaging Labour HQ believes is most likely to entice voters to deliver them into No 10 in just a few months’ time.An unusually direct communicator at a time of ever-increasing obfuscation, Streeting has been unafraid to depart with both long-held Labour orthodoxy and mainstream progressive opinion in service of his own particular brand of supposedly straightforward and “common sense” politics.This was notably evident this week, as he repeated his intention of increasing private access to the NHS to help cut waiting lists, in a characteristically punchy appeal to readers of The Sun newspaper.Warning that the NHS would get no extra funding from his department without undergoing “major surgery” and reform, Labour’s shadow health secretary insisted he was “up for the fight” with health unions and would not be deterred by “middle-class lefties” crying “betrayal” over privatisation.While marking no material departure from the rhetoric Streeting has been espousing for years, the pugilistic piece – softened somewhat by a reference to his own personal brush with kidney cancer, aged 38 – still managed to set social media alight on Monday, with detractors spreading his message far and wide to otherwise-unreached voters.Indeed, Streeting has become one of the most familiar faces on Starmer’s tightly reined frontbench, after enjoying a rapid rise from the backbenches in the wake of Jeremy Corbyn’s downfall, of whom – as a former member of the Blairite pressure group, Progress – Streeting has been an ardent and unceasing critic.The shadow health secretary, pictured behind Keir Starmer, has spoken of his own personal brush with kidney cancer at the age of 38 More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailLabour has pledged to give every child with type 1 diabetes a smartphone so they can access new glucose monitoring technology.The phones track blood sugar levels and work in conjunction with an “artificial pancreas” which automatically provides the patient with insulin when their levels are high.Monitoring children’s glucose levels prevents them from passing out or having a fit.Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said it is a “travesty” that only those who can afford a smartphone are currently able to access the new technology.In partnership with Virgin Media O2 and the Supporting Children with Diabetes charity, the party aims to ensure every family can benefit from a smartphone which is compatible with the new technology.Sir Keir told ITV News: “It’s a travesty that hundreds of children with type 1 diabetes can’t afford smartphones to take advantage of new monitors which check and monitor glucose levels.“This new technological breakthrough should be available to all children who need it, not to those who can afford a device.“We need an innovative and collaborative approach to tackle this head-on. That’s why my Labour government will work hand in glove with leading businesses to break down the barriers to access.“Our 10-year plan for change and modernisation of the NHS will bring our analogue service into the digital age.“We will secure the benefits of the revolution in medical technology for all. This is implementing traditional values in a modern setting.“That’s what an incoming, mission-led, Labour government will be all about. Under my leadership, a strong partnership between government, business and civil society will make our NHS fit for the future and give all children the best possible start in life.”This new technological breakthrough should be available to all children who need it, not to those who can afford a deviceLabour leader Sir Keir StarmerAround 32,000 children in the UK are currently living with the condition, but founder and CEO of the charity Supporting Children with Diabetes Carolyn Goldhill said many cannot afford a new smartphone and are forced to finger prick to test levels.Labour said the NHS will identify children with type 1 diabetes who are not using modern glucose monitors and direct them to the charity so it can provide them with a smartphone.The announcement comes after Sir Keir and shadow health secretary Wes Streeting visited Kings Mill Hospital Sutton-in-Ashfield in the East Midlands to meet nurses and patients in the maternity ward.The pair toured the hospital and highlighted the party’s pledge to digitise the red book given to parents for children’s medical records, as part of a series of changes to the NHS app.Mr Streeting said: “There is a revolution in medical technology taking place before our eyes. Under the Tories, the NHS is failing to secure the advantages of AI and new treatments for its patients, but private healthcare won’t.“If this continues, the two-tier healthcare system that is emerging in our country today will grow, the gap between public and private widen, and the NHS will become the poor man’s service. That is the future we must avoid.“Labour will reform the NHS so it takes full advantage of modern technology to deliver better care for all patients.”Ms Goodhill said she was “delighted” with the partnership, adding: “Since the NHS began supplying continuous glucose monitors to children with type 1 diabetes nearly two years ago, we have been inundated with requests for phones.“This technology enables young children to lead normal lives, whist their parents and diabetes nurses check their blood sugar levels remotely to ensure they are safe.“Many families don’t have the funds to buy a mobile phone that is compatible with the device and, without our charity, parents would be forced to revert to constant finger pricking to test blood sugar levels, and would not be able to be separated from their child.“This partnership will allow us to continue supplying phones to support children from deprived backgrounds, so they can benefit from the latest tech on the NHS.”Corporate Affairs director of Virgin Media O2 Nicola Green said: “As someone with type 1 diabetes, I have firsthand experience of how smartphone technology can help manage the condition.“The recycled devices that Virgin Media O2 is donating to Supporting Children with Diabetes will reduce the hassle and stress for those families affected by Diabetes, making it faster and easy to monitor blood glucose levels.” More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailWes Streeting has warned that the NHS will get no extra funding from Labour without “major surgery” or reform, including more use of the private sector.The shadow health secretary insisted he would not be put off by “middle-class Lefties” who cry “betrayal” over using the private sector to bring down waiting lists – adding he was “up for the fight” with NHS unions. It is the latest in a series of bold statements about the health service by Mr Streeting, who said Labour will only give the NHS an extra £1billion pounds if medics work weekends to ensure more patients are seen. He wrote in The Sun: “The NHS is a service, not a shrine. It is judged by how well it serves the public, not how heavy a price we’re paying for failure.”Mr Streeting doubled down on his comments during an interview on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, telling the show: “There’s a principled argument here, which is that those who can afford it are paying to go private, are being seen faster, and their outcomes and their life chances and their quality of life will be better. Those who can’t afford it are being left behind. And those tend to be people from working class backgrounds like mine, and I think that’s a disgrace.”Leader of the Labour Party Sir Keir Starmer and shadow health secretary Wes Streeting More