BBC Technology2 hours agoBusiness1 min read

Bank of England Governor urges rigorous AI testing over regulation

Andrew Bailey says AI benefits are immense but calls for safeguards and vulnerability testing.

bank of england andrew bailey artificial intelligence

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Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey argued that regulating artificial intelligence is not the right starting point, advocating instead for rigorous vulnerability testing and safeguards, while President Trump recently hosted AI firms for a safety summit.

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Why It Matters

Debates around AI safety and regulation have intensified as leading AI firms and political leaders weigh the pacing of technology development against potential risks.

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The Governor of the Bank of England has said regulating artificial intelligence (AI) "is not the right place to start" but instead called first for "rigorous" testing to find vulnerabilities and safeguards to contain risk.

Writing his first-ever article for Substack, Andrew Bailey said the risks around AI were "real and increasingly significant".

Bailey said the development of AI should not be halted or prohibited - "on the contrary, the benefits are immense" - but added there must be a system for intervention and to establish boundaries in which AI operates.

In recent weeks, the debate about the potential risks surrounding the rapid development of AI and what it means for humanity has intensified.

The bosses of leading AI firms such as Anthropic and OpenAI have called for development of the technology to slow down and for an internationally co-ordinated approach assessing risks and putting safeguards in place.

OpenAI recently announced that it would not release its latest AI model due to safety concerns.

The idea of a slowdown, however, has been rejected by the likes of President Donald Trump who has said the US is leading the AI race ahead of China, adding: "And, frankly, I want to keep it that way because whoever wins AI, wins."

But on Tuesday, after hosting a summit with the leading firms in AI such as OpenAI and Anthropic, Trump said executives had signed a "morally binding" document that would serve as a "form of protection" from AI's potential risks.