Many of the assembled audience of global dignitaries listening to JD Vance's speech – his first international engagement since becoming US Vice President – sat increasingly stone-faced as he very bluntly set out the US perspective. It was clearly not what they wanted to hear. Like it or loathe it, the speech was an unmistakable display of strength and Vance did not pull any punches. He dismissed global "hand-wringing" about AI safety. He began his speech by saying he was not even here to talk about it.

Next year's elections in Britain and the US could be marked by a wave of AI-powered disinformation, experts have warned, as generated images, text and deepfake videos go viral at the behest of swarms of AI-powered propaganda bots. Sam Altman, CEO of the ChatGPT creator, OpenAI, told a congressional hearing in Washington this week that the models behind the latest generation of AI technology could manipulate users. "The general ability of these models to manipulate and persuade, to provide one-on-one interactive disinformation is a significant area of concern," he said. "Regulation would be quite wise: people need to know if they're talking to an AI, or if content that they're looking at is generated or not. The ability to really model … to predict humans, I think is going to require a combination of companies doing the right thing, regulation and public education."

Announcing the partnership, US chief technology officer Michael Kratsios said: "America and our allies must lead the world in shaping the development of cutting-edge AI technologies and protecting against authoritarianism and repression. "We are proud to join our special partner and ally, the United Kingdom, to advance AI innovation for the well-being of our citizens, in line with shared democratic values." Measures under the deal include "recommending priorities for future cooperation in R&D areas" and "coordinating the planning and programming of relevant research activities". It will also promote "public-private partnerships and promoting R&D in AI focusing on fundamental advances and challenging technical issues such as explainability and fairness." Last night a spokesman for the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said: "This will provide a solid basis for future collaboration with the US on artificial intelligence, and will help drive breakthroughs in this groundbreaking technology to the benefit of people in both countries."

The UK ranks second only to America in the new technology, says Oxford Insight's AI Readiness Index, although China may have already pushed us into third. AI is already widely used in Britain for such processes as online banking and is providing the backbone for Covid research. In May Britain was the first country to contribute a supercomputer to the Covid-19 High Performance Computing Consortium.The group runs calculations in epidemiology, bioinformatics and molecular modelling to discover new treatments and a vaccine.However, the new US-UK partnership – which stemmed from a meeting between Prime Minister Boris Johnson and US president Donald Trump – was also prompted by fears that China may be on the track to become an AI superpower.In 2017 China's state council announced itsAI development plan which aims to connect and upgrade all industry within just five years, as part of a "Made in China 2025" push.Under the plan, AI will be used to control firms to balance supply and demand, while the technology will also be used to keep tabs on the population.Announcing the partnership, US chief technology officer Michael Kratsios said: "America and our allies must lead the world in shaping the development of …

Some of the world's most advanced countries in terms of artificial intelligence (AI) are not prioritising and practicing responsible AI, a report from Oxford Insight and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) has warned. In 2019, the Government AI readiness index reported that the UK led the world in terms of government use of AI. But the latest update for 2020 found that while the UK is still a leader on government AI, it lags many other countries in terms of the responsible use of AI. Richard Stirling, CEO of Oxford Insight, said AI was transforming banking and the way governments interact with citizens, but "that transformation is not happening in the same way in every country around the world". The index puts European countries in a strong position for AI adoption.

The United Nations has been warned that its protracted negotiations over the future of lethal autonomous weapons – or "killer robots" – are moving too slowly to stop robot wars becoming a reality. Lobbying for a pre-emptive ban on the weapons is intensifying at the UN general assembly in New York, but a deal may not emerge quickly enough to prevent devices from being deployed, experts say. "There is indeed a danger now that [the process] may get stuck," said Christof Heyns, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. "A lot of money is going into development and people will want a return on their investment," he said. "If there is not a pre-emptive ban on the high-level autonomous weapons then once the genie is out of the bottle it will be extremely difficult to get it back in."

Protracted negotiations within the United Nations are causing'killer robots' to move a step closer to reality, an expert has warned. The UK and US are currently attempting to water down a preemptive ban on autonomous weapons at the UN general assembly in New York. But this is delaying an agreement on banning the technology, which could allow nations to possess killer robots before any laws come into force. Protracted negotiations within the United Nations are causing'killer robots' to move a step closer to reality, an expert has warned. This was the stark warning made by Christof Heyns, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, in an in-depth article for The Guardian.