Liz Truss urges Rishi Sunak to ‘reconsider’ China’s AI summit invite

LONDON — Former British Prime Minister Liz Truss demanded her successor Rishi Sunak “reconsider” China’s invite to the U.K.’s upcoming summit on artificial intelligence.

Ahead of next week’s global gathering on AI safety, Truss said Thursday she was “deeply disturbed” that representatives from the Chinese government have been asked to attend.

“The regime in Beijing has a fundamentally different attitude to the West about AI, seeing it as a means of state control and a tool for national security,” Truss warned in a letter also published on X, formerly Twitter.

The intervention from Truss comes hours after Sunak — who replaced her in No.10 Downing Street after an eventful and short stint in office last year — confirmed that China had been invited to the summit, saying it was the right thing to do.

“There can be no serious strategy for AI without at least trying to engage all of the world’s leading AI powers,” Sunak said.

Chinese officials have been invited to attend both days of the summit, though will not be invited to a meeting on the safety and security risks from AI on the gathering’s second day.

In a speech on Thursday morning, Sunak also detailed how the U.K. would “push hard” to agree an international statement about the nature of AI risks, and defended seeking Chinese buy-in for it.

But in her letter to the prime minister, Truss said “no reasonable person expects China to abide by anything agreed to at this kind of summit.” 

Pressed on Truss’ comments Thursday evening, Sunak’s spokesperson told reporters: “There’s no change in our position … The approach that we’re taking is in line with the clear-eyed approach that we do with China.”

And they added of Beijing: “It’s right to try and engage and get them to be part of that conversation.”

Eleni Courea contributed reporting. This story has been updated with comments from Sunak’s spokesperson.