King Charles convened a private gathering on Thursday that brought together some of the biggest names in artificial intelligence along with key figures from the U.K. government. Among those present were Nvidia's Jensen Huang, representatives from OpenAI and Anthropic, the U.K.'s newly appointed AI minister Kanishka Narayan, and even the head of Britain's foreign intelligence agency. Paolo Benanti, an advisor to the pope on AI matters, also attended.

The summit took place at Dumfries House, an 18th-century Ayrshire estate that belongs to King Charles's charitable foundation. The king's comments drew particular attention because the royal family typically maintains careful distance from political matters due to constitutional considerations — and AI has become one of the most contentious topics globally. King Charles pressed the assembled leaders to find a way to control AI "before it's too late," noting that the technology's rapid advancement and its "substance" were "both intriguing and deeply concerning."

"AI is already showing immense capacity to improve and save life," he remarked, pointing to medicine and science as examples. "Yet those who have created these technologies are now increasingly warning that AI risks developing darker capacities, perhaps even to take life." His statement came only days after a researcher at Anthropic resigned, publicly writing that AI companies were "racing to build machines that are much smarter than any human" and that humanity "may not survive this."

The king went on to emphasize the urgency of properly addressing the "existential dangers" that could arise if such technology ended up in the wrong hands and was deployed in "potentially catastrophic ways."

"Surely, we need sufficient means of control before it's all too late," he stated. As he concluded, King Charles called on leaders to find ways to harness AI's benefits while building international cooperation and consensus toward that goal. (This comes in the wake of Anthropic restricting access to its Fable and Mythos models to only U.S. customers, which stunned the European tech community and prompted widespread discussion about AI sovereignty.)

"The task before you is not to merely advance technology, but to ensure that it remains firmly in the service of humanity, community, and the natural world," he said in closing. "As we embrace what is new, we must not lose what is timeless."

According to reports, the king remained for approximately 20 minutes before leaving the guests to continue discussions among themselves. OpenAI sent its CFO Sarah Friar to the summit, while Anthropic was represented by Tino Cuéllar, who oversees global affairs. In a statement, Cuéllar said the company felt honored to participate in the discussion and expressed gratitude to the king for "convening industry leaders and voices from across society to discuss the role of AI in serving the public good."

This marks not the first occasion King Charles has addressed both the challenges and advantages of AI, having done so in 2023 and 2024. However, this particular summit carries special relevance as AI continues to permeate every industry, subject, and conversation. Earlier this month, OpenAI's Sam Altman, Elon Musk, and Anthropic's Dario Amodei advocated for slowing down AI development, but Nvidia's Huang and President Donald Trump swiftly pushed back against those appeals. "We're leading China in AI," the president declared. "We're the most sophisticated country in the world, and frankly I want to keep it that way because whoever wins AI, wins."

The situation illustrates just how complicated the issue has become, with the interests of Big Tech, politics, and society all colliding. Over the past year, both OpenAI and Anthropic have hinted at major IPOs, though OpenAI recently indicated its IPO plans have been put on hold this year as concerns about AI safety continue to mount.