Elon Musk calls for the AI summit to establish 'third-party referee'

Tech magnate Elon Musk has called for a “third-party referee” to oversee companies developing artificially intelligence (AI) while attending the AI Safety Summit.

He expressed concern that governments would “jump the gun” on creating rules for AI without proper knowledge.

"I don't know what necessarily the fair rules are, but you've got to start with insight before you do oversight," he added.

While attending the event hosted at Bletchley Park, the owner of X (formerly known as Twitter) said AI is “one of the biggest threats to humanity” as we face “something far more intelligent than us”.

Speaking to PA, he said: “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.”

The summit is being hosted by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak today and tomorrow, aiming to consider to risks of AI and how countries can work together to mitigate those risks.

Musk’s remarks followed the announcement of the first-ever international declaration on AI, which more than 25 countries signed including China and the US.

The co-founder of Open AI will also take part in an in-conversation event with Sunak this Thursday. 

Earlier this week, SpaceX's chief executive also made Scottish headlines after posting a tweet calling First Minister Humza Yousaf as a “blatant racist”. Musk’s tweet was a reaction to an edited version of a speech made by Yousaf, when he was still justice secretary, to the Scottish Parliament in which he addressed the lack of diversity in leadership positions in Scottish public life.