'Colossal impact' | 'Weapon of mass destruction of jobs' - Sadiq Khan's AI warning divides business leaders

London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan has warned that artificial intelligence risks becoming “a weapon of mass destruction of jobs” if its development is allowed to race ahead without sufficient oversight.

Speaking at Mansion House on Thursday evening, the Labour politician said the pace of AI adoption posed a significant threat to London’s workforce, particularly in sectors such as finance, professional services and the creative industries. His intervention comes against the backdrop of growing concern over the creation of sexualised deepfake images of women and children using Elon Musk’s Grok AI chatbot.