The UK refused to sign the Paris Agreement. Instead, it announced a tectonic shift in AI policy on February 16, 2025, emphasising security over safety. While previous discussions centred on ensuring that AGI development remains aligned with human values and risk mitigation, the UK has now pushed for a stronger focus on AI’s potential to be weaponised and its geopolitical implications. In their statement, UK officials declared, “The era of AI safety-first discussions must give way to a framework that prioritises AI security, ensuring that adversarial actors do not gain the upper hand."

This shift will influence global discourse, moving concerns away from ethical AI use and towards safeguarding AI against adversarial misuse. This shift in narrative and focus will be pushed by the US also as both these countries do not want to address the issue of AI safety. It is not as though security and safety cannot be addressed simultaneously, but the narrative is being cleverly cleaved by countries looking to abrogate their responsibilities.

This realignment is reinforced by a warning from the US government’s think tank, RAND, about AGI’s role in strategic instability, as the UK’s position highlights the need for comprehensive defence mechanisms against AI threats. The shift also aligns with concerns raised by another US think tank, CNAS, regarding AI-driven information warfare and cyber risks, as policymakers now prioritise protective measures over purely ethical considerations.

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The RAND Corporation’s recent publication, Artificial General Intelligence’s Five Hard National Security Problems, explores the multifaceted security risks posed by the advent of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). The report outlines five core........

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