King Charles convenes leaders of artificial intelligence companies at a summit in Scotland, amid mounting fears that unchecked AI could threaten humanity.
Transcript
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Britain’s King Charles is holding a summit of AI executives in Dumfries, Scotland. It’s happening as leaders of AI companies say they are afraid their technology poses a danger to humanity if left unchecked. NPR’s Fatima Al-Kassab reports.
FATIMA AL-KASSAB, BYLINE: As top AI bosses arrived in southwest Scotland to attend King Charles’ AI summit, they were greeted by giant anti-AI slogans scrawled on nearby beaches, left there by activists, some of whom recently campaigned outside Scottish Parliament against new data centers.
(SOUNDBITE OF PROTEST)
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: (Chanting) Hey, hey. Ho, ho. Data centers must go.
AL-KASSAB: King Charles, who, as monarch, doesn’t usually get involved in politics, has taken an interest in the debate around the AI boom and is hosting representatives from OpenAI, Anthropic, Nvidia and Google DeepMind, as well as the U.K.’s own AI minister. They’re expected to discuss ways AI can be harnessed to benefit society. Back in 2023, the king addressed the world’s first AI safety summit, which was hosted by the U.K.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
KING CHARLES III: We are witnessing one of the greatest technological leaps in the history of human endeavor.
AL-KASSAB: In his speech, the king also warned of the risks posed by AI.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
CHARLES III: There is a clear imperative to ensure that this rapidly evolving technology remains safe and secure.
AL-KASSAB: The boss of Nvidia, Jensen Huang, said the king personally handed him a copy of that speech last year. Gina Neff, deputy CEO of Responsible AI UK, a government-funded research group, says the king might be uniquely placed to bring about much-needed discussions and consensus among AI leaders.
GINA NEFF: From the outside, it looks like the AI industry is one big monolith. Actually, these CEOs – they have very different points of view in terms of what should be done around AI safety.
AL-KASSAB: She says while the AI race continues between the U.S. and China, the U.K. can still have influence.
NEFF: The U.K. has this tradition of using their former imperial power as a soft power in the world. And I think there really is a role for the U.K. to play in kind of a third way between not the U.S. hands-off approach, not the Chinese approach.
AL-KASSAB: And she says the U.K. is positioning itself as a leader in ensuring AI responsibility and safety.
Fatima Al-Kassab, NPR News, London.
(SOUNDBITE OF JEL’S “KNOW YOU DON’T”)
Copyright © 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
