AI poses ‘Hiroshima’-style threat to humanity without global rules, says Cooper

Essay gives the clearest view of Cooper’s worldview yet as Labour figures jostle got places in a possible Burnham cabinet. Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty Images View image in fullscreen Essay gives the clearest view of Cooper’s worldview yet as Labour figures jostle got places in a possible Burnham cabinet. Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty Images AI poses ‘Hiroshima’-style threat to humanity without global rules, says Cooper Exclusive: Foreign secretary warns of combined risks of AI, climate crisis, irregular migration and foreign interference Artificial intelligence poses a “Hiroshima”-style risk to humanity if governments do not agree to curb how it is developed, the foreign secretary has warned. Yvette Cooper urged countries, including the US and China, to agree international rules for AI, telling the Guardian she believes the issue will dominate foreign policy over the next two years. In an essay covering her thoughts on everything from emerging technology to Palestine, Cooper said the world was at a dangerous moment, not least because of what she sees as the permanent withdrawal of the US from its role as a global arbiter. And in a separate interview with the Guardian she spelled out her concerns over AI and the Palestine peace process in particular. In her piece being published on Monday by the Chatham House thinktank, the foreign secretary said: “On nuclear, international agreement came only after the world saw the terrifying power of the new technology at Hiroshima – and asked what would happen if it fell into the wrong hands. We cannot afford to wait for an AI equivalent of Hiroshima before we act.” She told the Guardian: “Across the world, people are feeling the same thing – there is amazing potential here, but there is also huge risk. We are already in a world where we have malign actors who will use technology against us – whether that be hybrid threats, whether that be state-backed criminal groups or other kinds of organisations, or extremists and terror groups.” She added: “I think AI is going to end up being the dominant foreign policy issue that we deal with over the next two years.” Cooper identified AI as just one area threatening global security at the moment as she also warned about the impact of the climate crisis, irregular migration and foreign interference on western liberal democracy. Her essay gives one of the clearest and most comprehensive pictures of the foreign secretary’s worldview and where she thinks her department should devote its attention in the coming years. It comes as senior Labour figures jostle for position in a likely Andy Burnham cabinet, with her former colleague David Miliband being tipped for a return to the Foreign Office in her place. Miliband will share his own thoughts on foreign policy in a lecture on Thursday entitled “Power and its missing guardrails”. Cooper writes in her essay that European powers need to adjust to the idea that the US will no longer guarantee international peace and democracy, even