UK says AI statement failed to address 'national security'

A final statement at an international artificial intelligence summit in Paris did not address questions of "national security," a UK government spokesperson said on Tuesday after Britain failed to sign the communique.

The closing deal at the gathering of world leaders in Paris agreed to prioritise securing AI technology with regulation to make it "open" and "ethical".

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Neither Britain nor the United States -- home to two of the world's three largest AI industries -- signed the agreement. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has previously urged the UK to forge its own path when it comes to AI regulation.

A UK government spokesperson said the declaration did not sufficiently address "harder questions around national security".

"We felt the declaration didn't provide enough practical clarity on global governance, nor sufficiently address harder questions around national security and the challenge AI poses to it," a spokesperson said.

However, the UK agreed with "much" of the declaration and would "continue to work closely with our international partners", the spokesperson added.

Co-hosts France and India as well as Germany and China were among dozens of signatories who called for AI to be "open, inclusive, transparent, ethical, safe, secure and trustworthy" under "international frameworks".

There was no indication that key industry players like Sam Altman's OpenAI would support the deal, which agreed that AI should be "sustainable for people and the planet".

"You'd only ever expect us to sign up to initiatives that we judge to be in our national interest," a 10 Downing Street spokesman told reporters in London earlier Tuesday.

Last month, Starmer pledged to make the UK a "world leader" in artificial intelligence, announcing plans for companies to be able to test their innovations in the UK before regulating the technology.

The UK will be "pro-growth and pro-innovation on regulation", Starmer said, adding the government would regulate it in the way "that we think is best for the UK".