Hollywood movies have left ‘super-geeks’ terrified by dangers of AI, ministers told

HOLLYWOOD has helped to fan the flames about the dangers of artificial intelligence (AI) in the minds of a generation of “engineers, computer scientists and super-geeks”, ministers have heard.

The House of Lords was told movie depictions of AI, such as

have helped to cement “hopes and fears of what AI could do to us”, as it considered plans to regulate the emerging technology.

The upper chamber of Parliament was urged to back proposals by Lord Holmes of Richmond, which would create a new watchdog, known as the AI Authority. The Conservative peer’s Artificial Intelligence (Regulation) Bill, which began its progression through Parliament on Friday, would require the authority to push forward AI regulation in the UK and assess and monitor potential risks to the economy.

Some peers expressed concerns about generative AI, including the need to ensure artists whose work is used as a prompt are fairly paid, and that technology should be prevented from drawing on images of child sexual abuse.

But Conservative peer Lord Ranger of Northwood suggested the technology’s proponents currently needed room to innovate.

He told the Lords: “If like me, you are from a certain generation, these seeds of fear and fascination of the power of artificial intelligence have long been planted by numerous Hollywood movies picking on our hopes and fears of what AI could do to us.”

He cited the “unnerving subservience” of HAL 9000 in

and “the ultimate hellish future of machine intelligence taking over the world in the form of Skynet” from movies.

Lord Ranger added: “These and many other futuristic interpretations of AI helped fan the flames in the minds of engineers, computer scientists and super-geeks, many of who created the biggest tech firms in the world.”

Lord Ranger said he did not believe it was possible to regulate AI through a single authority. He was also critical of a labelling system that seeks to ensure any person involved in training AI would have to supply to the authority a record of all third-party data and intellectual property (IP) they used.

The Government believes a non-statutory approach to AI regulation provides “critical adaptability” but has pledged to keep it under review.

A government spokesman said: “As is standard process, the Government’s position on this Bill will be confirmed during the debate.”