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Elon Musk will head to Downing Street for talks with Rishi Sunak today following the prime minister’s AI safety summit.

The billionaire owner of SpaceX and Tesla jetted in for the event at Bletchley Park, which began on Wednesday with attending countries backing an agreement on the need to manage risks posed by the technology.

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China and the US, the world’s leading AI powers, were among 28 countries to endorse the Bletchley Declaration.

It said nations should work together to research the safety of so-called frontier AI models, which some experts – including Musk – believe could one day threaten humanity.

“It’s a risk,” he told Sky News on day one of the summit.

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Elon Musk: ‘AI is a risk’

PM’s AI balancing act

The Bletchley Declaration said any threats are “best addressed through international cooperation”, and also set out plans for more global summits next year.

Mr Sunak said the agreement was a “landmark achievement”.

But there was little sign of a concrete approach to regulation or any suggestions of a pause in AI’s development, which experts including Musk called for earlier this year.

It also did little to satisfy critics who warned the prime minister ahead of the summit he was too focused on hypothetical future threats, rather than present dangers like job losses and misinformation.

In a joint statement after the declaration was published, leading AI experts and civil society organisations warned politicians were not showing enough urgency to regulate.

Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan has defended the government’s approach at the summit, saying more hypothetical risks were still ones “we shouldn’t take lightly”.

She said the government was seeking to “strike the right balance” between safety and innovation.

Leading AI firms Anthropic and ChatGPT maker OpenAI have opened international offices in the UK, she added, proving the government was taking the right approach.

China keeps close control of its AI companies, will the West be able to do the same?



Tom Clarke

Science and technology editor

@aTomClarke

Elon Musk might have brought some stardust to this summit, but a more quietly significant presence was the Chinese government.

Although AI safety has been discussed in places like the UN, this is the first time China has sat round a table to discuss the issue with their American and European counterparts.

The UK government faced criticism from some of its own MPs for inviting China. The truth is, any honest effort to mitigate the risks of AI has to be a global one.

If, as some have suggested, super-intelligent AIs of the future might represent the same existential risk as nuclear weapons did in the 20th century, only a similar level of international agreement can keep us safe.

According to Professor Yi Zing, an AI researcher at the state-run Chinese Academy of Sciences, China has already developed AIs equally as powerful – and potentially as problematic – as GPT4 and its rivals in the West.

The major difference of course, is that the Chinese state keeps close control over its AI companies – and can ensure it benefits from any advances they make.

For regulators in the West it’s not so easy. Can they persuade increasingly powerful AI firms to allow them meaningful access to their AI models to ensure they are safe? And what can they do if they conclude they are not? Progress on that is a key objective of the second day of this summit.

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What is the AI Safety Summit?

When is the Sunak-Musk meeting?

The meeting between the prime minister and Musk will take place after the summit has officially closed.

Thursday will see Mr Sunak convene a small group of governments, companies, and experts, while the technology secretary will meet again with her international counterparts.

It’s not known who the PM will be meeting, but the summit has welcomed the likes of OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Google DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis, and US vice president Kamala Harris.

His talks with Musk will take place in Downing Street, and be livestreamed on X (formerly Twitter).

Musk has hosted politicians on the platform before, notably a glitch-filled discussion with Ron DeSantis when the Florida governor launched his US presidency bid.

Musk and Mr Sunak have been divided on the need for AI regulation, with the former telling the US Congress in September there was “overwhelming consensus” for it.

Mr Sunak on the other hand has expressed caution, saying too much oversight would stifle innovation.

But Musk – the world’s richest man – changed his tune somewhat ahead of his UK trip, voicing his opposition to sweeping safeguards unveiled by US President Joe Biden earlier this week.

It included requiring AI companies to share safety data with the government before releasing their models publicly.

Speaking at the UK summit, Musk suggested he would prefer a “third-party referee” to regulate the sector.

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Music video streamer ROXi lands backing from US broadcasters

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Music video streamer ROXi lands backing from US broadcasters

A music video-streaming service whose shareholders include the U2 bassist Adam Clayton will this week announce that it has sealed a management buyout after months of talks.

Sky News understands that the assets of MagicWorks, which trades as ROXi, have been sold to a new company called FastStream Interactive (FSI), with backing from two major US-based broadcasters.

Sources said that Nasdaq-listed Sinclair and New York Stock Exchange-listed Gray Media were among the new shareholders in FSI, with the launch of new interactive TV Channels in the US expected to take place shortly.

The deal, which has involved raising millions of pounds of new equity from new and existing investors, has resulted in previous creditors of the business being repaid in full, according to the sources.

Its search for funding from the US was seen as vital because of the programme to roll out its FastScreen technology.

Founded in 2014, ROXi described itself as the world’s first ‘made-for-television’ service, allowing viewers to stream millions of songs and download hundreds of thousands of karaoke tracks.

Its broadcast channels allow viewers to skip through content in which they have no interest.

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Simon Cowell, Kylie Minogue and Robbie Williams were among the prominent music industry figures who had previously been named as ROXi investors.

Financiers including Guy Hands and Jim Mellon are said to be part of the new ownership structure.

In response to an enquiry from Sky News, Rob Lewis, FSI chief executive, said: “The new technology, FastStream, will revolutionise broadcast TV.

“For the first time in history, consumers tuning into a normal TV channel will find they automatically start at the beginning of the programme, and that they are able to skip, pause or search, even though they are watching normal broadcast TV”.

Begbies Traynor Group, the professional services firm, and Rockefeller Capital Management advised on the process.

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Concierge firm founded by Queen’s nephew hunts buyer

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Concierge firm founded by Queen's nephew hunts buyer

Quintessentially, the luxury concierge service founded by the Queen’s nephew, is in talks to find a buyer months after it warned of “material uncertainty” over its future.

Sky News has learned that the company, which was set up by Sir Ben Elliot and his business partners in 1999, is working with advisers on a process aimed at finding a new owner or investors.

City sources said this weekend that Quintessentially was already in discussions with prospective buyers and was anticipating receipt of a number of firm offers.

Sir Ben, the former Conservative Party co-chairman under Boris Johnson, owns a significant minority stake in the company.

The Quintessentially group operates a number of businesses, although its core activity remains the provision of lifestyle support to high net worth individuals including celebrities, royalty, and leading businesspeople.

It also counts major companies among its clients and offers services such as organising private jet flights and performances by top musicians.

The sale process is being overseen by a firm called Beyond, although further details, including the price that the business might fetch, were unclear on Saturday.

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One insider said parties who had been contacted by Beyond were being offered the option to buy a controlling interest in Quintessentially.

This could be implemented through a combination of the repayment of outstanding loans, an injection of new funding into the business, and the purchase of existing shareholders’ interests, they added.

Quintessentially’s founders, including Sir Ben, are thought to be keen to retain an equity interest in the company after any deal.

In January 2022, newspaper reports suggested that Quintessentially had been put up for sale with a valuation of £140m.

Deloitte, the accountancy firm, was charged with finding a buyer at the time but a transaction failed to materialise.

Sir Ben, who was knighted in Mr Johnson’s resignation honours list, turned to one of Quintessentially’s shareholders for financial support during the pandemic.

World Fuel Services, an energy and aviation services company, is owed £15.5m as well as £3.5m in accrued interest, according to one person close to the process.

The loan is said to include a warrant to convert it into equity upon repayment.

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Quintessentially does not disclose the number or identities of many of its clients, although it said in annual accounts filed at Companies House in January that it had increased turnover to £29.6m in the year to 30 April 2024.

The accounts suggested the company was seeing growth in demand from clients internationally.

“During the last year, we have not only renewed important corporate contracts like Mastercard, but have also expanded by adding new corporate clients like Swiss4 in the UK, R360 in India, and Visa in the Middle East and South America,” they said.

In its experiences and events division, it won a contract to work with the Red Sea Film Festival and to provide corporate concierge services to the Saudi Premier League.

It added that Allianz, the German insurer, BMW, and South African lender Standard Bank were among other clients with which it had signed contracts.

The accounts included the warning of a “risk that the pace and level at which business returns could be materially less than forecast, requiring the group and company to obtain external funding which may not be forthcoming and therefore this creates material uncertainty that may cast ultimately cast doubt about the … ability to continue as a going concern”.

This weekend, a Quintessentially spokesman declined to comment on the sale process.

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Superstar Adele joins backers of music royalties platform Audoo

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Superstar Adele joins backers of music royalties platform Audoo

Adele, the Grammy award-winning artist, has joined the list of music superstars investing in Audoo, a music technology company which helps artists to receive fairer royalty payments.

Sky News has learnt that the British musician and Adam Clayton, the U2 bassist, have injected money into Audoo as part of a £7m funding round.

The pair join Sir Elton John, Sir Paul McCartney and ABBA’s Bjorn Ulvaeus as shareholders in the company.

Changes to Audoo’s share register were filed at Companies House in recent days.

Audoo, which was established by former musician Ryan Edwards, is trying to address the perennial issue of public performance royalties, in order to ensure musicians are rewarded when their work is played in public venues.

Mr Edwards is reported to have been motivated to set up the company after hearing his own music played at football stadia and in bars, without any payment for it.

Estimates suggest that artists lose out on billions of dollars of unaccounted royalties each year.

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London-based Audoo uses a monitoring device – which it calls an Audio Meter – to recognise songs played in public venues, and which is said to have a 99% success rate.

It has struck what it describes as industry-first partnerships with organisations including the music licensing company PPL/PRS to track and report songs played in public performance locations such as cafes, hair salons, shops and gyms.

“At Audoo, we’re incredibly proud of the continued support we’re receiving as we work to make music royalties fairer and more transparent for artists and rights-holders around the world through our pioneering technology,” Mr Edwards told Sky News in a statement on Friday.

“We have successfully reached £7m in our latest funding round.

“This funding marks a pivotal moment for Audoo as we focus on our growth in North America and across Europe, bringing us closer to our mission of revolutionising the global royalty landscape.”

Sources said the new capital would be used partly to finance Audoo’s growth in the US.

The latest funding round takes the total amount of money raised by the company since its launch to more than $30m.

Mr Edwards has spoken of his desire to establish a major presence in Europe and the US because of their status as the world’s biggest recorded music markets.

Adele’s management company did not respond to an enquiry from Sky News.

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