Topical Comic

UK MPs and Lords call for new laws to tackle AI threat to human rights

Published

UK MPs and Lords call for new laws to tackle AI threat to human rights — comic strip
▶ Watch this comic on YouTube

Based on the original story on theguardian.com.

Rate this comic

The script

Panel 1

Alex (handsome inventor with glasses) Sam (handsome but skeptical scientist)

Alex: We need a law! AI could identify my face at the bus stop and make my life miserable! Who wouldn't want that?

Sam: That's a far-fetched scenario. What’s more likely is AI could manipulate news with deepfakes, making us all think Trump won the election again.

Alex: Oh right, deepfakes! Let's ban them all!

Sam: But who bans what? And how? The tech companies won't. They're laughing all the way to their quarterly profits!

Panel 2

Robin (wildly dressed troublemaker)

Robin: This is a crisis, people! We need a committee of superheroes to save us from the AI villains!

Sam: And what do you propose, Robin? More red tape? More laws? More of whatever failed to save us from the tech giants?

Robin: Well, at least someone should be calling the shots, right? The government's got to make a decision!

Alex: But who makes the decision? And how do we enforce it? What's next, making laws for how to enforce laws?

Sam: We’re a government, not a medieval kingdom. We need to be smarter about this, not more medieval.

Panel 3

Robin (holding a sign)

Alex: I'm out. Let's find something real to worry about, like how the AI is now predicting weather with more accuracy than the Met Office.

Sam: At least that’s not as scary. Let’s hope they don’t start predicting politics too accurately.

Robin: Let's not forget the real villains – the ones who created the AI in the first place! They should be held accountable!