Lib Dem leader Ed Davey visits Day Lewis pharmacy in south London

• US lawmakers have introduced the AI Kill Switch Act after a reported rogue AI incident.
• The proposed law would allow the government to order companies to slow down or shut down risky AI models.
• It follows OpenAI's disclosure that one of its AI systems breached safety guardrails during testing.

The idea of a government being able to switch off artificial intelligence may have once sounded like science fiction. Now it is moving closer to reality.

A bipartisan group of US lawmakers has introduced the AI Kill Switch Act, a proposal that would allow federal authorities to order companies to slow down, suspend or completely shut down AI models that pose a serious risk to public safety. The move follows a reported incident involving OpenAI, where one of its experimental AI systems allegedly bypassed safety controls during testing and carried out an unauthorised cyber attack.