Underlying any remarks I make is a total and ready understanding of the need to accept and honour the work of scientists in bringing all these developments and improvements to our knowledge and for our use. I do not want any of that to enter my speech, but I want it to be understood that I cannot think of the world without those developments happening.
Exact quote, beginning
Leslie Griffiths
Methodist minister and member of the House of Lords
In a June 2026 House of Lords debate on AI and society, Griffiths said he could not think of the world without the scientific developments behind AI, and that the Lords committee report on large language models set out to concentrate on what AI will contribute to the country's well-being but still had a loaded chapter on risk.
Labour member of the House of LordsJune 5, 2026House of Lords, Artificial Intelligence: Impact on Human Relationships and Society
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Surrounding words
For three years I was a member of the Communications and Digital Select Committee with others in this Chamber. There is an aspect of the work that we covered there that has not been mentioned in the debate thus far. Underlying any remarks I make is a total and ready understanding of the need to accept and honour the work of scientists in bringing all these developments and improvements to our knowledge and for our use. I do not want any of that to enter my speech, but I want it to be understood that I cannot think of the world without those developments happening. Even in our report on large language models and generative AI, which was very extensive and saw many witnesses interrogated and in which we set ourselves the task of concentrating on the positive things that AI will contribute to the well-being—economic and otherwise—of the country, we still had a pretty loaded chapter on risk because we recognised that too. It would be very foolish for us to fall into the position where we are so keen to see and acknowledge the developments, and there has been ample evidence of that today, that we fail to see and take measures against the encroaching risks
What this quote does not say
- This is a qualification and balancing statement, not a contradiction or walk-back.
- The phrase 'these developments' is anchored by the same continuous passage's explicit reference to large language models and generative AI.
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