Lords call for AI 'kill switch' powers in UK

A group of peers is calling for the British government to be able to deactivate powerful AI systems and switch off the country's data centres in the event of the tech posing a threat to national security. It is led by the Liberal Democrats' Lord Tim Clement-Jones, who has proposed the measure as an amendment to the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill which is currently making its way through Parliament. He said it would enable the building of a vital safety net and provide a democratically accountable means to halt a runaway system before it can compromise our critical national infrastructure. He added the tool would only ever be used as a last resort. It is one of 65 amendments to the same bill that was debated this week.