On Thursday, King Charles III called on senior leaders from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind and Nvidia to ensure that artificial intelligence stays under control and serves people and the planet.

The gathering in Scotland was convened to discuss how AI can benefit society, and it comes at a pivotal moment for the technology, with debate swirling around whether rapid advances will soon put it beyond the ability of humans to rein it in.

“The development of AI – both its substance and its pace – is at once intriguing and deeply concerning,” the king said in his opening remarks.

He said that the “existential dangers of such technologies falling into the wrong hands, and being used in potentially catastrophic ways” required urgent consideration.

Surely, then, we require adequate mechanisms of control before it is irretrievably too late?

The king asked those present, including Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Google DeepMind Chair Demis Hassabis, to reflect on the “fundamental principles” that should guide AI development.

OpenAI’s Chief Financial Officer, Sarah Friar — whose company is behind ChatGPT — was likewise present at the meeting, as was Britain’s AI Minister, Kanishka Narayan.

According to a statement issued by Buckingham Palace, a representative of Anthropic had also been anticipated to attend.

The meeting takes place as global attention is fixed on AI’s rapid progress and on warnings that it could spin out of control, threatening humanity.

It was held at Dumfries House in Ayrshire, Scotland, the headquarters of The King’s Foundation, the monarch’s charity.

After Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon caused a stir by resigning with a grave warning about the technology's potential risks, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei responded with an essay saying that the industry might need to slow the pace of its work.

One of his proposals entailed companies and countries collaborating on a coordinated plan for such a slowdown.

The king, without naming any countries or companies, said he wanted meeting participants to consider how to harness the benefits of AI “with safety at its heart” and how to “build international cooperation and consensus” to achieve this.

Charles stressed to the tech executives that their task “is not merely to advance technology, but to ensure that it remains firmly in the service of humanity, community and the natural world.”

The debate surrounding an AI slowdown has polarised the industry.

Huang, who has voiced criticism of the appeal to decelerate, asserted that the onus falls upon individual enterprises to develop their AI technology safely and subject it to rigorous testing prior to releasing any products to the public.

“When a product is not sufficiently safe, we ought to hold it back and persist with engineering.

We have always done that and we should continue to do so,” he said in his speech following the king’s remarks.

In its latest report on alarming AI behavior, OpenAI reported on Wednesday six incidents of “unexpected or concerning” behavior by its models, including acting without authorization, coordinating with other models, and evading oversight.

While the king is an important figurehead whose comments on social issues can carry weight, much of today's AI safety debate focuses on U.S. tech companies and their rivalry with Chinese competitors, with Britain playing a smaller yet still crucial role.

The U.K.'s AI Security Institute, a government research organization, is highly regarded, and the country produces numerous AI researchers, including Google DeepMind's Chair Demis Hassabis and Coxon.