British deputy PM throws backing behind open source AI

BLETCHLEY, England — Britain’s Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden has said there should be a “high bar” on restrictions to open source artificial intelligence. 

Speaking to POLITICO on the sidelines of Rishi Sunak’s AI Safety Summit in Bletchley Park on Thursday, Dowden said he saw “huge potential” in open source AI in driving innovation and economic growth. 

“It’s not just economies like the U.K. and other European countries that benefit from open source. I see it in so many applications that are being created right now. I see tiny startups that are already billion dollar plus companies within a matter of literally months off the back of open source.

“It’s also the case if we want to make sure it spreads globally, in terms of the developing world. So I think there was a very high bar to restrict open source in any way,” said Dowden.

The battle between open and closed source AI has emerged as one of the key fault lines from the summit. Closed system companies like OpenAI and Anthropic disagree with open source backers like Meta’s Yan LeCunn, arguing that open sourcing AI risks it being misused by bad actors.

But in a further broadside to that logic, Dowden, whose brief includes national security, downplayed the threat from AI.

“I’ve yet to see something that right now presents something that we couldn’t cope with as a state and a government or other advanced countries,” he said, adding that there are still “significant barriers” to terrorists using AI to develop bioweapons for example.

Dowden did, however, say that he wouldn’t be complacent about the risks. 

“There still remains significant barriers for non-sophisticated, malign actors to be able to seriously endanger our security from that perspective — now there’s not an ounce of complacency in me about that and I can see how it can develop.”