Ed Davey is to call for a global nuclear-style non-proliferation treaty to halt the development of super-intelligent AI when he makes his keynote speech at the Liberal Democrat conference, accusing Andy Burnham of relying on Donald Trump and “tech bros” to solve the problem.
When he addresses the faithful on the final day of the gathering in Brighton, the party leader will call for a global pause on super-intelligent AI, comparing it to a nuclear arms race that could result in technology that could “destroy us all”.
Davey is expected to lay out plans in his speech on Tuesday for a new international AI safety agency – modelled on the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and headquartered in the UK, after numerous warnings from AI researchers that artificial intelligence could wipe out humanity within the decade. “We didn’t leave the atom bomb to a few billionaires to police themselves,” he will say.
Davey is expected to call for a new global movement to work together to protect humanity from the risks of super-intelligent AI, saying that the IAEA was built by nations “working together to control a technology that could destroy us all”, but warning that the future of AI is being decided by “a tiny number of the richest and most powerful in California and in Beijing” with no guardrails to slow down development.
“As liberals – we know that something as existential as nuclear weapons or climate change cannot be left in the hands of a powerful few. And so it must be with AI. We can’t leave it to Mark Zuckerberg, to Sam Altman, or to Elon Musk to save us,” Davey will say.
On Monday, the prime minister announced a new AI partnership with the US ahead of Trump’s address to the UN general assembly on Tuesday.
But Davey will say the plan “doesn’t come close to meeting the scale of this threat” and “only risks making us more dependent on a Trump administration in the pocket of the tech bros”.
It comes after the Lib Dems’ home affairs spokesperson, Max Wilkinson, on Monday announced that the party proposed a big tech levy and promised to create a new online crime agency focused on offences including child sexual abuse material, trafficking in drugs and weapons, and deepfake AI-generated pornographic images.
Wilkinson said the Lib Dems would properly regulate use of Meta’s smart glasses, which he called “perv goggles”, telling the conference that the glasses “are more than a benign piece of tech that provides a bit of fun” and that people – especially women – were being recorded without consent or warning. “This is becoming the new norm, because this government won’t stand up to big tech to protect our civil liberties,” he said.
On Sunday Davey set out a proposal to cut fuel duty by 10p a litre for a fixed three-month period, as well as reducing the bus fare cap from £3 to £1 and other transport-related cost of living policies.
Davey defended himself in a series of interviews on Monday about complaints his party lacks vision, saying it was pointless to try to compete with the attention-grabbing ideas of the likes of Reform UK and the Greens.
“It’s a very noisy environment at the moment,” he told the BBC. “But let me tell you, some of the noise generated by the populists are things that divide our country, that are nasty, or that are just completely crazy. I don’t want to do that. I want to tell people that we have really well thought through policies that will cut their taxes.”
Asked if he would propose further tax cuts in the wake of the pledge to slash 10p from fuel duty for three months, Davey replied: “Absolutely.” These would, he said, be financed by higher economic growth due to the Lib Dem proposal to seek entry to the EU’s single market.
The Lib Dem leader did praise Burnham for wanting to reform adult social care, but told Sky News the “jury is out” on whether Burnham will deliver as prime minister. But Davey was positive about some of what Burnham has done.
“I think it’s good when other parties start talking about Liberal Democrat priorities,” he said. “We have led the debate on social care and carers because it’s so important for our health service. We’ve led the debate on political change because we need to change our political system, and Mr Burnham seems to be up for that.”
