UK Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey calls for a treaty to ‘press pause’ on superintelligent AI and an IAEA-style safety agency, and tells Sky News he is looking at a UK ban
Partly confirmed
The takeaway
Closing the Liberal Democrat conference in Brighton on Sept 22, 2026, party leader Ed Davey called for an international treaty to halt work on superintelligent AI, modelled on nuclear non-proliferation, and an International AI Safety Agency like the IAEA that the UK could host.
Status
- Claim
Partly confirmed
- Our reporting
- Medium confidence
- Importance
- 2 of 5
- Last verified
- 12 October 2026
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Key facts
- Proposal (City AM, Sept 21; Guardian preview, Sept 21): a global treaty to ‘press pause on super-intelligent AI’ and an ‘International AI Safety Agency’ modelled on the International Atomic Energy Agency, possibly hosted in the UK
- Davey (expected remarks, per the Guardian preview as summarised by Resultsense): ‘We didn’t leave the atom bomb to a few billionaires to police themselves’
- Davey called the issue ‘fundamentally one about power’: ‘It’s too concentrated, and we must break it up’ (City AM)
- He said Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s new US-UK partnership on AI and autonomy ‘doesn’t come close to meeting the scale of this threat’ and makes the UK more dependent on the Trump administration
- Sky News published a video titled ‘Ed Davey looking at UK ban on superintelligent AI’ (interview with Sam Coates); we have the title and search summaries, not the video’s text
- Counter-view in City AM: the Tony Blair Institute warned that slowing AI development would carry costs for growth and national security
- Context: Labour MP Alex Sobel’s Artificial Superintelligence Bill (Sept 8) would prohibit developing superintelligence in the UK; more than 70 UK lawmakers asked Burnham to back it
What happened
Davey used his closing speech at the party’s Brighton conference to ask the UK government to lead a treaty that pauses work on superintelligent AI, with an international agency to police it. The speech was timed against Andy Burnham’s trip to the UN General Assembly, where the prime minister announced a US-UK partnership on AI and autonomy. In a Sky News interview Davey went further and said he is looking at a ban in the UK.
Written from City AM and summaries of the Guardian preview; the speech text and the Sky interview were not read directly, so the exact wording delivered on the day is unverified.
Why it matters
Until then, support for a halt in UK politics came from backbenchers and peers (the Sobel bill, the cross-party letter). Davey is the first leader of a main Westminster party to adopt it as a position.
Sources
4 sources from 4 sites. Numbers match the chips in the text.
4 sources: 3 press, 1 reaction
Press
- City AM: Ed Davey calls for AI ‘pause’ as Burnham inks US-UK tech dealcityam.com, press
- The Guardian (preview, Sept 21): Halt super-intelligent AI, Ed Davey to tell Lib Dem conference (not read directly)theguardian.com, press
- Resultsense: Ed Davey to urge a treaty halting superintelligent AIresultsense.com, press
Reactions
- Sky News (YouTube): Ed Davey looking at UK ban on superintelligent AIyoutube.com, video
Changes
- Filed (evening)