Elon Musk expected to attend Rishi Sunak’s AI safety summit

Elon Musk is expected to attend Rishi Sunak’s artificial intelligence (AI) summit.

World leaders including US President Joe Biden are not attending, with Downing Street denying the Prime Minister’s global gathering is being snubbed by world leaders.

But it is understood Mr Musk will attend, though it is unclear if this will be in person or virtually.

The Prime Minister also announced he would appear “in conversation” in a livestream chat with Mr Musk on his X social media site after the summit closes.

“In conversation with (Elon Musk). After the AI Safety Summit. Thursday night on X,” Mr Sunak said in the post.

Known as the chief executive of Tesla and SpaceX, Mr Musk is also the co-founder of OpenAI, the company behind the artificial intelligence tool ChatGPT.

The Prime Minister hopes the summit on AI safety, which will be held on Wednesday and Thursday at Bletchley Park, will cement the UK’s status as a leading world player in the cutting-edge technology.

But it is not yet clear which international leaders will attend the gathering, which is intended to discuss how to ensure AI can be used safely around the world.

I'm not going to get into the ins and outs of invite lists

With days to go until the event, Mr Sunak’s spokesman could not provide an updated guest list to reporters on Monday.

The White House has confirmed that US vice president Kamala Harris will attend the summit rather than Mr Biden, while Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz are also believed to be unlikely to show up.

Asked whether Mr Sunak feels he is being snubbed by international counterparts, his spokesperson said: “No, not at all.

“We remain confident that we have brought together the right group of world experts in the AI space, leading businesses, and indeed world leaders and representatives who will be able to take on this vital issue.”

It is a “significant achievement” to host the first AI safety summit of its kind, he said.

The official declined to comment on reports that the UK had upgraded the invitation sent to China from a more junior invitee to President Xi Jinping.

He said: “I’m not going to get into the ins and outs of invite lists. I think we’ve always sought to have the right level of representation.

“Of course, as the Foreign Secretary set out, it’s important to invite China given they too are world leaders in AI.”