Kamala Harris arrives in the UK ahead of AI safety summit

Ms Harris will represent the US at the summit on Wednesday and Thursday in place of President Joe Biden.
US Vice President Kamala Harris arrives at Stansted Airport
PA
Harry Stedman1 November 2023

US Vice President Kamala Harris has arrived in the UK ahead of attending Rishi Sunak’s summit focused on the safe use of artificial intelligence (AI).

Ms Harris touched down at Stansted Airport on Tuesday evening with her husband Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff for the summit.

She will represent the US at Bletchley Park, near Milton Keynes, on Wednesday and Thursday in place of President Joe Biden.

French President Emmanuel Macron will also not be in attendance, whilst Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz are also believed to be unlikely to show up.

AI safety summit
The US ambassador to the UK Jane Hartley greets US Vice President Kamala Harris
PA

But Downing Street denied on Monday that the summit was being snubbed by world leaders.

Elon Musk, the Tesla CEO and owner of the social media site X, will attend and join Mr Sunak for a live interview after the summit closes.

The Prime Minister hopes the summit on AI safety will cement the UK’s status as a leading world player in the cutting-edge technology.

AI safety summit
The plane carrying US Vice President Kamala Harris arrives at Stansted Airport.
PA

Mr Sunak also said last week that mitigating the risk of extinction because of AI should be a global priority alongside pandemics and nuclear war.

It comes as Mr Biden signed an executive order on AI on Monday, and said the technology was driving change at “warp speed” and carries tremendous potential as well as perils.

The order seeks to steer how AI is developed so that companies can profit without putting public safety in jeopardy.

Using the Defence Production Act, it requires leading AI developers to share safety test results and other information with the government.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in