AI poses ‘Hiroshima’-style threat to humanity without global rules, says Cooper
Exclusive: Foreign secretary warns of combined risks of AI, climate crisis, irregular migration and foreign interference
Artificial intelligence poses a “Hiroshima”-style risk to humanity if governments do not agree to curb how it is developed, the foreign secretary has warned
Yvette Cooper urged countries, including the US and China, to agree international rules for AI, telling the Guardian she believes the issue will dominate foreign policy over the next two years
In an essay covering her thoughts on everything from emerging technology to Palestine, Cooper said the world was at a dangerous moment, not least because of what she sees as the permanent withdrawal of the US from its role as a global arbiter
And in a separate interview with the Guardian she spelled out her concerns over AI and the Palestine peace process in particular
In her piece being published on Monday by the Chatham House thinktank, the foreign secretary said: “On nuclear, international agreement came only after the world saw the terrifying power of the new technology at Hiroshima – and asked what would happen if it fell into the wrong hands. We cannot afford to wait for an AI equivalent of Hiroshima before we act.”
She told the Guardian: “Across the world, people are feeling the same thing – there is amazing potential here, but there is also huge risk. We are already in a world where we have malign actors who will use technology against us – whether that be hybrid threats, whether that be state-backed criminal groups or other kinds of organisations, or extremists and terror groups.”
She added: “I think AI is going to end up being the dominant foreign policy issue that we deal with over the next two years.”
Cooper identified AI as just one area threatening global security at the moment as she also warned about the impact of the climate crisis, irregular migration and foreign interference on western liberal democracy
Her essay gives one of the clearest and most comprehensive pictures of the foreign secretary’s worldview and where she thinks her department should devote its attention in the coming years
It comes as senior Labour figures jostle for position in a likely Andy Burnham cabinet, with her former colleague David Miliband being tipped for a return to the Foreign Office in her place. Miliband will share his own thoughts on foreign policy in a lecture on Thursday entitled “Power and its missing guardrails”
Cooper writes in her essay that European powers need to adjust to the idea that the US will no longer guarantee international peace and democracy, even after the end of Donald Trump’s presidency
“We should no longer expect the US to play the role it once did,” she says. “There will continue to be issues where we disagree. But reduced dependence on any single ally will make us stronger.”
One answer, she says in her essay, is for the UK and EU to negotiate a more permanent settlement instead of trying constantly to renegotiate individual elements of their trading arrangements
The government is putting the finishing touches on the latest round of EU renegotiation as ministers look to strike new deals on agriculture and electricity trading as well as visas for young people
They were due to be announced at a summit later this month, but that has been pushed back as EU officials hope to engage with the incoming Burnham government first
Cooper argues in her essay: “We need to develop a new, structured relationship with Europe, leading the development of its new security architecture, with a more European Nato at its core. And we must settle our relationship with the EU as a closer but stable partnership, rather than one based on endless incremental bargaining.”
She did not say, however, what shape that more stable partnership should take. Burnham told the Guardian last year he wanted the UK to rejoin the bloc, but has said more recently he would not seek to pursue that if he becomes prime minister
And she warns that with Trump preoccupied with the war in Iran and the world turning its attention to other regions, countries were at risk of forgetting about delivering peace in Palestine
She told the Guardian: “You have the 20-point plan … [but] my big worry is that it is running into the ground.”
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