TL;DR
Louise Haigh is due to use a speech at the TUC’s annual congress on Tuesday to say the UK should take seriously the alarms raised by people building advanced AI. It is the first set-piece ministerial statement since frontier labs called for a slowdown. Her emphasis on international cooperation, rather than domestic law, fits a pattern: the government keeps agreeing that the risks are real while declining the specific measures put to it.
What the minister is expected to say
According to briefing ahead of the speech, the First Secretary of State will argue that the government must “heed the warnings” of those “at the forefront” of AI development. She is expected to say ministers stand “ready to work with international partners” on public safety and national security.
The speech will not be purely defensive. Haigh is also due to describe AI as having “enormous potential” across public services, business and scientific research.
Downing Street set the tone on Monday. A spokesperson for Andy Burnham welcomed the fact that the leading developers were now discussing dangers openly alongside benefits. A separate government statement stressed that the risks are cross-border, and that officials are working with both the companies and allied governments.
The backdrop
The anxiety has built quickly. Anthropic’s Evan Hubinger put the chance of AI killing all humans within a decade at above 10%, and his chief executive, Dario Amodei, then urged the industry to slow down. Donald Trump has dismissed the whole concern as a “HOAX”.
At home, the pressure is coming from Parliament. The Joint Committee on Human Rights wants an AI Bill, and OpenAI has told ministers to legislate now.
Looking forward
The awkward detail is what the government has already refused. The Cabinet Office rejected a proposed legal power to shut down a dangerous model, saying the UK “cannot simply turn AI off”. Anthropic co-founder Jack Clark has since argued that exactly that kind of verifiable kill switch may need to be compulsory. Heeding developers, in other words, does not yet extend to adopting what they suggest.
Choosing the TUC as the venue also matters. Trade unions will hear the speech as much about jobs as about extinction risk, and the reference to stronger businesses and better public services will be judged against what AI does to their members’ work. Anyone expecting a legislative timetable should not count on one today.