King Charles warns AI leaders of 'existential dangers'

Britain’s King Charles on Thursday warned AI industry leaders about the potential “existential dangers” of the technology if it falls into the wrong hands, stressing the need for effective safeguards before it is too late.

Charles hosted senior figures from the artificial intelligence sector in Scotland, including Nvidia co-founder and CEO Jensen Huang, Google DeepMind founder Demis Hassabis, and representatives from OpenAI and Anthropic.

The meeting came amid growing concerns that AI safety measures are not keeping pace with the rapid development of increasingly powerful systems.

The debate over whether AI companies should regulate themselves has intensified in recent weeks, attracting comments from figures including Pope Leo, King Charles and US President Donald Trump.

Charles acknowledged that AI could bring significant benefits and help save lives, particularly in medicine and the life sciences. However, he said developers were also increasingly warning about the technology’s potential harmful capabilities, including the possibility of causing loss of life.

Speaking at his Dumfries House estate, Charles stressed the urgency of establishing adequate safeguards and controls to prevent AI from being used in potentially catastrophic ways.

The gathering was also attended by OpenAI Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar, Anthropic Chief Global Affairs Officer Tino Cuéllar, British Minister for Artificial Intelligence Kanishka Narayan and Paolo Benanti, an adviser to Pope Leo who has called for governments to slow the pace of AI development.

The latest concerns follow warnings from two Anthropic researchers that rapid advances in AI could potentially pose an existential threat to humanity in the not-too-distant future.