King Charles III Warns AI Leaders Not to Lose Control of Humanity's Future
King Charles III is convening a summit at Dumfries House with executives from Nvidia, Google DeepMind, OpenAI, and Anthropic, urging them to keep artificial intelligence at the service of humanity and to ensure that people do not lose control of their destiny.
King Charles III is preparing a direct appeal to the world's most powerful artificial intelligence companies, asking them to guarantee that AI remains at the service of humanity and that the human race does not «lose control» of its own future. The meeting, to be held at Dumfries House in Scotland, will bring together senior representatives from Nvidia, Google DeepMind, OpenAI, and Anthropic, along with the UK Minister for AI, Kanishka Narayan.
According to remarks anticipated by Buckingham Palace, the King will open the conference by telling the assembled technology leaders that «those in our world who value our humanity and its fundamental moral component are anxiously seeking your reassurance that we will not lose control of our destiny.» He will add that «the decisions taken at this crucial moment will shape the world that future generations will inherit. Therefore, the task before you is not simply to advance technology, but to ensure that it remains firmly at the service of humanity, of community, and of the natural world.»
The King is expected to stress that as artificial intelligence evolves, «our humanity must remain sacred.» The palace has not released a full guest list, but sources close to the event indicate that participants will include Demis Hassabis, president of Google DeepMind; Jensen Huang, chief executive of the American semiconductor giant Nvidia; and Sarah Friar, chief financial officer of OpenAI. Also present will be Niccolò de Masi, head of the US quantum computing group IonQ.
The debate over the risks of artificial intelligence has intensified since the beginning of the summer, fueled by several incidents and by apocalyptic warnings from industry experts. King Charles, who regards the development of AI as both fascinating and deeply troubling, will not take part in the discussions themselves. He will instead meet participants before the summit begins to urge them to consider how to harness AI «with safety at the center» and to build international cooperation so that «no nation is left behind and the future of humanity is protected,» according to Buckingham Palace.
According to The Sunday Times, a statement of intent has been drafted ahead of the summit by the Ditchley Foundation, the British charity coordinating the discussions. The gathering reflects a growing push among governments and civil society to establish guardrails for a technology that is advancing faster than the rules meant to govern it.
Among the guests is Niccolò de Masi, whose career spans finance, technology, and digital entertainment. Born in Los Angeles in October 1980 and raised mainly in the United Kingdom, he appeared as a child in a small role in «The Godfather Part III» as the son of Enzo the baker. After earning a degree in physics at Cambridge and working at the investment bank JP Morgan on Wall Street, he became, at 26, one of the youngest chief executives of a company listed on the London Stock Exchange when he took the helm of Monstermob, a Lancaster-based firm that built part of its early success on polyphonic mobile phone ringtones.
He returned to the United States in 2010 and, at 29, became chief executive of Glu Mobile, where he worked with Kim Kardashian on a smartphone video game that became a major success. He later moved into quantum computing. IonQ, founded in 2015 and taken public in 2021, is now valued at 21.6 billion dollars on the New York Stock Exchange and has acquired Oxford Ionics, a company spun out of the University of Oxford, for 1.1 billion dollars.
De Masi describes the common thread of his career as the ability to «build ecosystems,» an approach that in his words links seemingly distant experiences such as the video game made with Kim Kardashian and the development of quantum computers. He has described himself to The Times with irony as «the worst physicist at IonQ» but also as «the best businessman in the quantum sector.» He was also among a small group of chief executives, alongside Jensen Huang of Nvidia and Tim Cook of Apple, who accompanied Donald Trump during his state visit to the United Kingdom.
