In the House of Lords on Monday there was a short discussion, prompted by a question from an ex-Labour minister, about whether the government is doing enough to ‘regulate the development of superintelligent AI’. This is an example of what I call ‘Caligula syndrome’, a common affliction in the Upper House. You will recall that the lunatic Roman emperor declared war on Neptune, ordering his legions to line up on the coast of Gaul and collect seashells as ‘spoils of war’.

What can the British government – or indeed any government – do to halt the advance of AI? Hubris doesn’t quite cover it. It’s in the same category as believing parliament can reverse climate change. His Majesty’s Government has allocated about £2 billion over the next four years to deliver its AI Opportunities action plan, and given an additional £500 million to a sovereign AI unit that will invest in homegrown ventures. The Chinese government, by contrast, is reported to have invested $48 billion in AI last year alone. But even if the UK somehow managed to persuade the Chinese and Americans to join forces, they couldn’t put the genie back in the bottle. Superintelligent AI – a form of........

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