Donald Trump’s unprecedented second state visit to the UK has begun and artificial intelligence (AI) is the name of the game.
Later today, Trump and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer are expected to sign a landmark technology deal that has already seen the world’s biggest tech companies pledge billions of dollars of investment in AI.
Starmer has described the agreement, which will see the two nations co-operate on AI, quantum computing and nuclear energy, as “a generational step change” in Britain’s relationship with the U.S.
With Trump’s visit front of mind, Microsoft yesterday said it would invest a whopping $30B ($40.9B) in the UK by 2028 focused on, amongst other things, building out AI infrastructure, while Google followed up with the announcement of £5B in AI. Nvidia, OpenAI and Salesforce have also committed significant sums.
Flouting human rights law
Owing to the thorny issue of copyright, British creatives aren’t happy. An open letter penned to Starmer yesterday signed by the likes of Sarah Phelps, Tom Stoppard, Elton John and Mick Jagger along with multiple organizations claimed the law in this area is being “flouted en masse by predominantly overseas tech companies to the fundamental detriment of the UK’s £127 billion creative industries and in violation of creators’ human rights.”
The group claimed that AI companies have “ingested millions of copyright works without permission or payment, in total disregard for the UK’s legal protections,” and that creatives won’t be protected by the upcoming Data Bill, which is currently making its way through parliament and which would mean copyright holders must opt-out from having their material used for training AI models. Scripts from more than 130,000 films and TV shows have so far been used to train generative AI models, according to a recent BFI study.
UK creatives aren’t the only ones protesting as Trump arrives in town.
To the POTUS’ delight, today’s state visit will be full of all the pomp that Britain can muster, but large-scale protests are planned in Central London later today from a loose grouping calling itself the Stop Trump Coalition, which criticizes Trump’s policies and rhetoric. The same coalition protested in Windsor last night, where Trump is staying at the historic Windsor Castle. He will meet King Charles III later today and partake in several traditional ceremonies including military parades and a possible flypast by the Red Arrows alongside British and American jets.
And if Trump thought he could escape his Jeffrey Epstein-shaped troubles by heading across the pond then he was mistaken. The fallout from the termination of Peter Mandelson, the UK ambassador to the U.S., over his links to the late convicted sex offender hangs over proceedings. Last night, four people were arrested on suspicion of malicious communications after images of Trump and Epstein were projected on to Windsor Castle, according to local police.
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