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Rishi Sunak has been warned not to ignore the “here and now” threats to people’s jobs posed by artificial intelligence, as Elon Musk and the creator of ChatGPT jet in for a landmark UK summit.

Bletchley Park is set to welcome more than 100 figures from politics and business from today, including the likes of OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Google DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis, and billionaire Musk.

US vice president Kamala Harris, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, and controversially, a Chinese tech minister are also attending; though Canada’s Justin Trudeau, France’s Emmanuel Macron, and Germany’s Olaf Scholz are not.

The two-day event, held at the home of Britain’s Second World War codebreakers, is the first global summit on AI safety and the prime minister hopes it will help shape its development.

Reports suggest he will use discussions at the summit as the basis for a global advisory board for AI regulation, modelled on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

But following a speech last week, in which he spoke of dystopian threats like terrorists developing bioweapons and humanity losing control of AI, Mr Sunak has been warned not to ignore more present dangers.

Mary Towers, employment rights officer at the TUC, told Sky News: “We are not saying the government should not address hypothetical future risks – but it should not be done at the expense of dealing with existing harms.”

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Sunak vows to tackle fears around AI

PM ‘squeezing out’ marginalised voices

The TUC union was one of dozens of experts and organisations to sign a letter to Mr Sunak this week, accusing him of having “marginalised” those most at risk of being impacted by AI.

It said small businesses and creatives, who have been among the most vocal in their concerns about AI, felt “squeezed out” and “smothered” by the power and influence of big tech firms.

Ms Towers accused the prime minister of assembling a “narrow interest group” for the summit, which will also host executives from tech giants like Meta and Tencent.

In an open letter coordinated by the TUC, more than 100 organisations branded the AI summit “a missed opportunity”, saying: “For many millions of people in the UK and across the world, the risks and harms of AI are not distant – they are felt in the here and now.”

The guest list certainly reflects Mr Sunak’s enthusiasm for AI, and he will join Mr Musk for a live discussion on X (formerly Twitter) after the event.

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Musk warns of AI ‘civilisational risk’

Regulation ‘desperately needed’

Ahead of the summit, the prime minister announced a £100m investment in AI tools to research new cancer and dementia treatments – answering calls from surgeons who believe the NHS must embrace the technology.

The government also committed £2m to helping schools adopt AI, such as to help teachers plan lessons.

And earlier this week, The Telegraph reported the government is testing a ChatGPT-style chatbot that can answer people’s questions about benefits, housing, and taxes.

But one in three Britons fear the tech could take their jobs, according to data released this week.

PM’s AI summit looks like a significant meeting



Tom Clarke

Science and technology editor

@aTomClarke

Some people thought the PM’s AI summit would be a flop.

The venue, Bletchley Park has pedigree. It was home to the first electronic computer and the war-time code-breakers that pioneered AI.

But recent political and economic chaos combined with the regulatory irrelevance of a UK outside of the EU, so the thinking went, would make it unlikely Mr Sunak could really attract serious players in the development and regulation of AI.

Sure, a few big names are absent. But the US vice-president will be there, so will Meta’s AI chief. The government also resisted criticism to ensure the Chinese state is represented, along with the EU.

This now looks increasingly like a significant meeting on serious global issue.

The anticipated arrival of the world’s richest man and controversial tech titan Elon Musk adds a hefty dose of Silicon Valley stardust.

But none of this guarantees success. In fact, no one agrees on what success might look like.

Most global conferences are defined by trying to find consensus among disparate political or commercial views around a specific goal – take the decades long effort tackle global warming for example.

In the case of AI, all parties want to prevent a machine intelligence more capable than humans running out of control. It’s just no one really agrees on what that AI looks like or how to go about preventing it.

Expect to hear baffling statements around “responsible scaling”, “red-teaming”, “guardrails” and the need to control AI without hobbling it’s potential to benefit humanity.

Real progress would be some kind of plan to control, contain, or perhaps even prevent the development of increasingly powerful and unpredictable AI models. But with just two days to talk it over, few expect the delegates to achieve that – even with the ghosts of Bletchley Park peering over their shoulders.

Administrative, customer service, and secretarial workers are most worried, the Office for National Statistics said.

Ms Towers said legislation was “desperately needed” to address redundancy concerns, and force employers to be transparent with workers about how they plan to use AI.

Bodies including the Publisher’s Association and Society of Authors have also called on Mr Sunak to take a tougher stance against AIs being trained on copyrighted material, echoing concerns of other creative industries.

But Mr Sunak has expressed caution about regulation, saying it would stifle innovation.

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Music industry calls for AI protection

Rather than suggest bespoke new laws, the government has said it will lean on existing regulators to enforce principles around safety and transparency.

Other countries are going further, with US President Joe Biden announcing guardrails to address issues from job security and discrimination to deep fakes and misinformation.

The EU and China have also unveiled their own proposed AI regulation.

Kriti Sharma, founder of AI For Good UK, told Sky News businesses needed to know they can trust AI, and called for regulation that ensures new models are trained using trusted data sources.

Research by consultancy firm Infinum reveals more than three-quarters of British firms plan to invest in AI over the next year, but 73% admit to being ill-prepared to actually integrate it into their operations.

Ms Sharma said the government must ensure nobody is left behind.

“We need to strongly champion the need to create a basic AI education for everyone,” she said.

“New opportunities will come up, and I’d love the UK to be at the forefront of creating an AI-ready workforce.”

The summit is set to close on Thursday with Mr Sunak giving a speech outlining what attendees have agreed on.

His discussion with Mr Musk on X will take place afterwards.

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Trump trade war escalation sparks global market sell-off

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Trump trade war escalation sparks global market sell-off

Donald Trump’s trade war escalation has sparked a global sell-off, with US stock markets seeing the biggest declines in a hit to values estimated above $2trn.

Tech and retail shares were among those worst hit when Wall Street opened for business, following on from a flight from risk across both Asia and Europe earlier in the day.

Analysis by the investment platform AJ Bell put the value of the peak losses among major indices at $2.2trn (£1.7trn).

The tech-focused Nasdaq Composite was down 5.8%, the S&P 500 by 4.3% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average by just under 4% at the height of the declines. It left all three on course for their worst one-day losses since at least September 2022 though the sell-off later eased back slightly.

Trump latest: UK considers tariff retaliation

Analysts said the focus in the US was largely on the impact that the expanded tariff regime will have on the domestic economy but also effects on global sales given widespread anger abroad among the more than 180 nations and territories hit by reciprocal tariffs on Mr Trump‘s self-styled “liberation day”.

They are set to take effect next week, with tariffs on all car, steel and aluminium imports already in effect.

Price rises are a certainty in the world’s largest economy as the president’s additional tariffs kick in, with those charges expected to be passed on down supply chains to the end user.

The White House believes its tariffs regime will force employers to build factories and hire workers in the US to escape the charges.

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The latest numbers on tariffs

Economists warn the additional costs will add upward pressure to US inflation and potentially choke demand and hiring, ricking a slide towards recession.

Apple was among the biggest losers in cash terms in Thursday’s trading as its shares fell by almost 9%, leaving it on track for its worst daily performance since the start of the COVID pandemic.

Concerns among shareholders were said to include the prospects for US price hikes when its products are shipped to the US from Asia.

Other losers included Tesla, down by almost 6% and Nvidia down by more than 6%.

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PM: It’s ‘a new era’ for trade and economy

Many retail stocks including those for Target and Footlocker lost more than 10% of their respective market values.

The European Union is expected to retaliate in a bid to put pressure on the US to back down.

The prospect of a tit-for-tat trade war saw the CAC 40 in France and German DAX fall by more than 3.4% and 3% respectively.

The FTSE 100, which is internationally focused, was 1.6% lower by the close – a three-month low.

Financial stocks were worst hit with Asia-focused Standard Chartered bank enduring the worst fall in percentage terms of 13%, followed closely by its larger rival HSBC.

Among the stocks seeing big declines were those for big energy as oil Brent crude costs fell back by 6% to $70 due to expectations a trade war will hurt demand.

The more domestically relevant FTSE 250 was 2.2% lower.

A weakening dollar saw the pound briefly hit a six-month high against the US currency at $1.32.

There was a rush for safe haven gold earlier in the day as a new record high was struck though it was later trading down.

Sean Sun, portfolio manager at Thornburg Investment Management, said of the state of play: “Markets may actually be underreacting, especially if these rates turn out to be final, given the potential knock-on effects to global consumption and trade.”

He warned there was a big risk of escalation ahead through countermeasures against the US.

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Sandra Ebner, senior economist at Union Investment, said: “We assume that the tariffs will not remain in place in the
announced range, but will instead be a starting point for further negotiations.

“Trump has set a maximum demand from which the level of tariffs should decrease”.

She added: “Since the measures would not affect all regions and sectors equally, there will be winners and losers as in 2018 – although the losers are more likely to be in the EU than in North America.

“To protect companies in Europe from the effects of tariffs, the EU should not respond with high counter-tariffs. In any case, their impact in the US is not likely to be significant. It would be more efficient to provide targeted support to EU companies in the form of investment and stimulus.”

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British businesses issue warning over ‘deeply troubling’ Trump tariffs

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British businesses issue warning over 'deeply troubling' Trump tariffs

British companies and business groups have expressed alarm over President Donald Trump’s 10% tariff on UK goods entering the US – but cautioned against retaliatory measures.

It comes as Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds launched a consultation with firms on taxes the UK could implement in response to the new levies.

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A 400-page list of 8,000 US goods that could be targeted by UK tariffs has been published, including items like whiskey and jeans.

On so-called “Liberation Day”, Mr Trump announced UK goods entering the US will be subject to a 10% tax while cars will be slapped with a 25% levy.

The government’s handling of tariff negotiations with the US to date has been praised by representative and industry bodies as being “cool” and “calm” – and they urged ministers to continue that approach by not retaliating.

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The latest numbers on tariffs

Business lobby group the CBI (Confederation of British Industry) said: “Retaliation will only add to supply chain disruption, slow down investment, and stoke volatility in prices”.

Industry body the British Retail Consortium (BRC) also cautioned: “Retaliatory tariffs should only be a last resort”.

‘Deeply troubling’

While a major category of exports, in the form of services – like finance and information technology (IT) – has been exempted from the tariffs, the impact on UK business is expected to be significant.

Mr Trump’s announcement was described as “deeply troubling for businesses” by the CBI’s chief executive Rain Newton-Smith.

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The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) also said the tariffs were “a major blow” to small and medium companies (SMEs), as 59% of small UK exporters sell to the US. It called for emergency government aid to help those affected.

“Tariffs will cause untold damage to small businesses trying to trade their way into profit while the domestic economy remains flat,” the FSB’s policy chair Tina McKenzie said. “The fallout will stifle growth” and “hurt opportunities”, she added.

Companies will need to adapt and overcome, the British Export Association said, but added: “Unfortunately adaptation will come at a cost that not all businesses will be able to bear.”

Watch dealer and component seller Darren Townend told Sky News the 10% hit would be “painful” as “people will buy less”.

“I am a fan of Trump, but this is nuts,” he said. “I expect some bad months ahead.”

Industry body Make UK said the 25% tariffs on cars, steel and aluminium would in particular be devastating for UK manufacturing.

Cars hard hit

Carmakers are among the biggest losers from the world trade order reshuffle.

Auto industry body the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said the taxes were “deeply disappointing and potentially damaging measure”.

“These tariff costs cannot be absorbed by manufacturers”, SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes said. “UK producers may have to review output in the face of constrained demand”.

The new taxes on cars took effect on Thursday morning, while the measures impacting car parts are due to come in on 3 May.

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Trump trade war: The blunt calculation that should have spared UK from reciprocal tariffs

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Trump trade war: The blunt calculation that should have spared UK from reciprocal tariffs

Economists immediately started scratching their heads when Donald Trump raised his tariffs placard in the Rose Garden on Wednesday. 

On that list he detailed the rate the US believes it is being charged by each country, along with its response: A reciprocal tariff at half that rate.

So, take China for example. Donald Trump said his team had run the numbers and the world’s second-largest economy was implementing an effective tariff of 67% on US imports. The US is responding with 34%.

Trump latest: UK considers tariff retaliation

How did he come up with that 67%? This is where things get a bit murky. The US claims it studied its trading relationship with individual countries, examining non-tariff barriers as well as tariff barriers. That includes, for example, regulations that make it difficult for US exporters.

However, the actual methodology appears to be far cruder. Instead of responding to individual countries’ trade barriers, Trump is attacking those enjoying large trade surpluses with the US.

A formula released by the US trade representative laid this bare. It took the US’s trade deficit in goods with each country and divided that by imports from that country. That figure was then divided by two.

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So, in the case of China, which has a trade surplus of $295bn on total US exports of $438bn, that gives a ratio of 68%. The US divided that by two, giving a reciprocal tariff of 34%.

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PM will ‘fight’ for deal with US

This is a blunt measure which targets big importers to the US, irrespective of the trade barriers they have erected. This is all part of Donald Trump’s efforts to shrink the country’s deficit – although it’s US consumers who will end up paying the price.

But what about the small number of countries where the US has a trade surplus? Shouldn’t they actually be benefiting from all of this?

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That includes the UK, with whom the US has a surplus (by its own calculations) of $12bn. By its own reciprocal tariff formula, the UK should be benefitting from a “negative tariff” of 9%.

Instead, it has been hit by a 10% baseline tariff. Number 10 may be breathing a sigh of relief – the US could, after all, have gone after us for our 20% VAT rate on imports, which it takes issue with – but, by Trump’s own measure, we haven’t got off as lightly as we should have.

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