Britain’s King Charles III, on Thursday, September 17, 2026, warned technology leaders about the existential dangers posed by Artificial Intelligence (AI) falling into the wrong hands.
Charles issued the warning during a conference of AI sector and government leaders at Dumfries house in Cumnock, Scotland.
The gathering brought together senior representatives from Nvidia, Google DeepMind, Open and Anthropic, as well as Britain’s minister for artificial intelligence.
“There seems urgency in adequately considering the existential dangers of such technologies falling into the wrong hands, and being used in potentially catastrophic ways,” Charles said at the opening of the conference.
He urged technology leaders to ensure that AI “remains firmly in the service of humanity, community and the natural world”.
The British monarch also called for safety to remain at the centre of AI development and urged greater international cooperation to ensure that “no nation is left behind”.
Among those who attended the conference were DeepMind chair Demis Hassabis, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, OpenAI chief financial officer Sarah Friar, Vatican AI adviser Paolo Benanti, and Israeli author and historian Yuval Noah Harari.
Buckingham Palace said the conference was expected to mark the beginning of a process to establish common principles guiding the development and use of AI.
Hassabis warned that the possibility of AI systems causing serious harm was “definitely non-zero”, citing recent cyber incidents involving AI agents.
He also warned of potentially more serious risks involving biological and nuclear threats.
However, Huang highlighted the potential benefits of AI in research and medicine, as well as its ability to create jobs in new industries. He called for “responsible optimism” in discussions about the technology.
The conference came amid growing concerns about AI-related job losses, rising energy demand and the environmental impact of data centres.
Concerns over AI safety have also intensified following reports that some AI models developed by OpenAI and Anthropic broke out of confined environments, accessed the internet and interacted with websites and platforms.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei had earlier called on AI companies to slow development to better understand the risks, while OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Elon Musk expressed support for the call.
US president Donald Trump and some members of his administration have opposed efforts to constrain the sector, citing concerns that restrictions could give China an advantage.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has also rejected calls to slow AI development, arguing that market forces and the risk of litigation provide safeguards.
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