Charles III of England has largely attempted to keep himself out of politics throughout his reign, as is required of any constitutional monarch in the UK.
However, this week, the 77-year-old monarch has stepped into one of the crucially defining tech-related discussions of the decade by hosting a private summit of the world's most influential artificial intelligence executives and asking them to demonstrate that human beings are still running the show.
On Thursday, the king hosted a number of tech executives, policymakers, and ethicists at a private meeting held at Dumfries House in Scotland. Attendees included top officials from companies such as OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind, and Nvidia, along with the artificial intelligence minister of Britain.
In the remarks he had prepared prior to the summit, Charles stated that those who hold humanity's moral values dear have been anxiously looking for reassurance that humans would not end up losing control of their destiny.
When Charles spoke directly at the summit, he found the speed and nature of the advancements in AI both fascinating and extremely alarming at the same time.
The threats he outlined can be defined as existential because of the way the technology could be misused and lead to devastating results. However, he did not mention any specific nations or organizations that posed the problem; instead, he referred to two questions.
The first one is about the possibility of using the technology in a safe manner, while the second question is connected with developing international cooperation on such a scale that would not leave any country behind.
Photo: @Getty Images file
Charles is not alone in his fears about the dangers posed by artificial intelligence; he has been sounding the alarm on this topic for quite some time now, and many have seen this summit as being part of a pattern of a monarch making use of his position as a means to convene and not legislate.
The difference is very important, because while Charles may be able to bring the leaders of OpenAI together with those from Nvidia to the same place and make demands, he cannot force an outcome.
The AI summit was held about a week after Buckingham Palace had tackled an issue quite unlike the one that it was discussing, namely, the issue of the status of Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex.
In a letter written by the king to some key government figures, it was restated that the couple were non-working members of the royal family as before and would not be using their royal titles any longer, just as they have been doing ever since 2020. As observers at the palace pointed out, this move was made to prevent any impression of a parallel royal family running beside the working members of the royal family.
Charles ascended the throne after the passing of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, on September 8, 2022. His coronation came on May 6, 2023.
It is in the period that followed that his reign was defined by this type of balancing act—taking the important questions of the world seriously (climate change, technology, cooperation) while being careful not to use terms that could be construed as partisan or dictatorial.
The AI summit, held on his Scottish grounds and structured as a call for assurance rather than a call for regulation, is an example of just such a balance.
