Humza Yousaf has been snubbed by Rishi Sunak after the Scottish Government was not invited to send a representative to the Prime Minister’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) Safety Summit, which started today.
But Scotland’s First Minister may be secretly relieved not to attend the event, given it spares him the prospect of an awkward meeting with billionaire tech giant Elon Musk, with whom he had a social media spat last week.
Innovation Minister, Richard Lochhead made it plain the Scottish Government would have no involvement in the two-day event, taking place at Bletchley Park in Bedfordshire.
He told Express.co.uk: “I am disappointed the Scottish Government is not represented at the summit, despite requesting a place along with other devolved administrations, but I welcome assurances I was given at my meeting with the Secretary of State Michelle Donelan to discuss this issue where she committed to closely engage with the Scottish Government going forward. I hope this happens.
“Given the impact of AI regulation on devolved areas, and the likelihood implementation of regulation will be in the hands of Scottish agencies, Scotland’s interests and priorities need to be taken into account.”
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Mr Lochhead added: “We are working to make Scotland a world leader in the development and use of artificial intelligence (AI) in a way which is trustworthy, ethical and inclusive.
“Our universities’ AI research and teaching are already world-class and we are determined to remain at the forefront of AI policy and technology development.
“While this summit appears to have a narrow focus on the long-term threat so-called frontier AI could pose to global security and doomsday scenarios, we should not lose sight of the more immediate risks such as misinformation and cyber security, nor the potential transformational benefits ethical AI can deliver to global society and the Scottish economy.”
Express.co.uk has approached the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology for comment.
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Mr Musk stirred up controversy last week when he commented on a 45-second clip of Mr Yousaf listing all the senior public posts in Scotland held by white people, shared on his X platform by an anonymous account called End Wokeness.
The account accused Mr Yousaf of “openly despising white people”, prompting Musk to comment: “What a blatant racist!”
Mr Yousaf hit back, sharing a gif of an Asian shopkeeper dancing from the BBC Scotland sitcom Still Game and commenting: “Racists foaming at the mouth at my very existence.”
Multiple posters defended Mr Yousaf, pointing out that he had been highlighting a lack of racial diversity in Scottish public sector institutions.
Speaking at the event today, Mr Musk described AI “one of the biggest threats” faced by the humans race.
He continued: “We have for the first time the situation where we have something that is going to be far smarter than the smartest human.
“We’re not stronger or faster than other creatures, but we are more intelligent, and here we are for the first time, really in human history, with something that is going to be far more intelligent than us.”
Mr Musk added: “It’s not clear to me if we can control such a thing, but I think we can aspire to guide it in a direction that’s beneficial to humanity.
“But I do think it’s one of the existential risks that we face and it is potentially the most pressing one if you look at the timescale and rate of advancement – the summit is timely, and I applaud the Prime Minister for holding it.”
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