AI is not the problem, prime minister – the corporations that control it are | John Naughton

Despite Rishi Sunak's summit and Joe Biden's executive order on the safety of AI, it's the tech giants that really need reining in

Earlier last week, just around the time when the driver of Rishi Sunak's armoured Jaguar might have been thinking about typing Bletchley Park" into the limousine's satnav, Joe Biden was in the White House putting his signature on a new executive order on the safe, secure, and trustworthy development and use of artificial intelligence". In a mere 20,000 words, or thereabouts, the order directs an innumerable number of federal agencies and government departments that oversee everything from housing to health to national security to create standards and regulations for the use or oversight of AI". These bodies are required to develop guidance on the responsible use of AI in areas such as criminal justice, education, healthcare, housing and labour, with a focus on protecting Americans' civil rights and liberties".

Stirring stuff, eh? Within No 10, though, there might have been some infuriated spin doctors. After all, the main purpose of the Bletchley Park AI safety summit was to hype the prime minister's claim to global leadership" in this matter, and here was bloody Biden announcing tangible plans actually to do something about the technology rather than just fostering lofty declarations". Talk about shooting the PM's fox before he had even mounted his horse!