Elon Musk is a risky star draw at Rishi Sunak’s AI summit — what will the shindig actually achieve?

The first global summit on AI safety has grand ambitions and Elon Musk as the star name on the guest list – but governments and industry bosses have their own ideas about how to control a technology that could change the world, writes Andrew Griffin

(Getty Images)

Rishi Sunak will today bring together leaders of the tech world for a two-day summit to discuss the dangers and opportunities of artificial intelligence – a conversation the world urgently needs to have.

Ahead of its start, Number 10 announced the get-together will finish with a live-streamed chat between the prime minister and Elon Musk, a star signing, but one that is hardly risk free given the owner of X and Tesla’s famous incaution about what he sometimes chooses to say.

But the potential risk is apparently worth the reward for Mr Sunak, who had been searching for a big name to answer criticism that his AI Safety Summit will be a poorly-attended disappointment.