Burnham-Trump latest: PM in first face-to-face meeting with US president – at UN general assembly

The two world leaders are currently meeting in the United Nations building in New York.

It had been expected that they would make some opening remarks to the media before continuing their chat in private. But that plan has changed.

We are now expecting that they will come out and make some closing remarks after the meeting ends.

The body language between them after almost 30 minutes of discussion will be fascinating.

Andy Burnham has told business chiefs he wants a “single set of global principles and standards” to guard against rogue artificial intelligence (AI).

The Prime Minister said the issue would be the main focus of the UK’s presidency of the G20.

This approach could set him on a collision course with Donald Trump, who said the US “totally rejects any attempt to construct a globalist scheme” to control the rapidly developing technology.

Speaking at an event while in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, Mr Burnham said he wanted to unlock the potential of AI while guarding against the risks.

Andy Burnham has branded AI “one of the biggest challenges we all face” minutes after Donald Trump tried to rename it “super-intelligence” – potentially putting the two on a collision course.

The prime minister said he was at the UN to try to deliver for people back in the UK.

He pledged he would ensure AI was harnessed to make Britain safer.

President Trump is, of course, running late. He is having to to hot-foot it to the Burnham meeting from an event in which he celebrated his deal not to invade Greenland.

But it should start any minute, we understand.

Donald Trump has rejected any effort to establish an international scheme to control artificial intelligence, which he said he wants to rename “super-intelligence”.

In his address to the United Nations General Assembly, the US leader said: “The United States also totally rejects any attempt to construct a globalist scheme to control for the artificial intelligence being spoken of so much now, here and after officially called super-intelligence.

“Changing the name in that the use of the word artificial makes intelligence fake. It makes it sound fake, and it is not fake. It’s actually amazing, but we have to be careful.

“In fact, it is exactly the opposite of what it purports.

“From this point forward, all of United States documents and hopefully the world’s will be changed to use the much more accurate term ‘super’ as opposed to ‘artificial’. So it’s super-intelligence.”

While he said that “every major new technology brings challenges, and super- intelligence is no exception”, he likened those “who said we’ll all be dead in 12 years because of global warming” to those who “are now saying that AI is going to kill us all”.

The Prime Minister’s bid to boost growth in every postcode could waste taxpayers’ money and be described as a “weird cousin” of Boris Johnson’s attempt at levelling up the country, a former adviser to Andy Burnham has warned.

Lord Jim O’Neill questioned the credibility of a pledge that is central to Mr Burnham’s political project, adding a national perspective and addressing slower growth in London should be prioritised.

Speaking to the Centre for Cities think tank, Lord O’Neill said: “I’m not a huge fan personally of the growth in every postcode.

“As I’ve actually said to them privately recently, the best way of getting growth in every postcode is to get 10-year UK gilt yields down by 150 basis points, which would be reflected in obviously mortgage rates significantly.

“So anybody borrowing money for a house or a mortgage repayment anywhere would benefit.”

Lord O’Neill said the strategy could create political questions that Labour might not want to face.

Details of the plans will be set out in a white paper, and the October Budget is expected to provide clarity on what the approach will be.

Andy Burnham is just hours away from his meeting with Donald Trump here in New York.

The first meeting between the two leaders is due to last around half an hour – but much of it will be behind closed doors.

However, they are due to make opening remarks on camera at the start of the meeting – and in the past Donald Trump has occasionally used these moments to talk at length.