King Charles to tell AI bosses tech must serve humanity at Dumfries House
King Charles III will tell bosses from Nvidia, Google DeepMind, OpenAI and Anthropic that artificial intelligence must stay firmly in the service of humanity.
He gives the message on 17 September at Dumfries House in Scotland, at a forum on the dangers of the technology. Hello! Magazine
Artificial intelligence, in plain terms, means computer systems that learn from large amounts of data and can write, analyse and help decide at speed. The King plans to describe that substance and that pace as intriguing and worrying.
His words for the forum are that AI's "substance and pace are both intriguing and deeply concerning in equal measure". He will then urge those present "not merely to advance technology, but to ensure it remains firmly in the service of humanity, community and the natural world".
That is a short speech with a direct request. Go further with the tools. Keep people first.
The forum is organised by the King's Trust, the King's Foundation and the Sustainable Markets Initiative. The discussion is facilitated by The Ditchley Foundation, which will chair the sessions.
The guest list brings business, government and faith into one room. Representatives of the four AI companies will attend, alongside UK Minister for Artificial Intelligence Kanishka Narayan and Vatican adviser Paolo Benanti.
The task for the day is practical. The group will discuss a shared set of principles, meaning basic rules to guide how AI is built and used, and to avoid ethical and security issues.
Those issues, as framed for the forum, are about control and consequences. Who decides how the systems are applied. What limits protect safety. How benefits reach communities and the natural world.
This is not the King's first step into the debate. He warned about AI risks in a video message shown at the first global AI Safety Summit in 2023. The Sovereign Grant Annual Report for 2024-25, the audited account that records public funding for official duties and was published on 25 June 2025, also notes that he received representatives of the artificial intelligence community at Buckingham Palace.
The September meeting in Scotland was convened as public warnings about AI have grown. It is described as an effort to confront AI's growing impact and potential existential concerns. The Washington Post
What makes this stand out is the mix of voices. Tech executives rarely sit with a minister and a Vatican adviser to talk rules. In Dumfries House they will do just that, with the King asking them to agree where the lines should sit.
