DooDooLamb News
'We can't simply turn AI off': Andy Burnham's government rejects 'kill switch' idea to stop a dangerous attack from a rogue bot
Brief published September 13, 2026 ยท Original source published September 11, 2026
Original reporting by Caitlin Leng at dailymail.com.
Automated brief. Verify important details at the original source.
What happened
The British government has rejected a parliamentary proposal to create a legal 'kill switch' mechanism that would allow authorities to deactivate an AI model during an emergency. The proposal was framed around preventing dangerous attacks from rogue AI systems. A government spokesperson, attributed to Andy Burnham's administration, indicated that simply turning AI off is not considered a viable response to such threats. The specific procedural vehicle was a proposal brought before Parliament, though the evidence does not detail which legislative body or committee advanced it.
Why it matters
Rejecting a formal shutdown mechanism signals that the government does not view hard cutoff powers as a practical safety tool. For builders and deployers of AI systems in Britain, this suggests regulatory focus may shift toward other risk controls rather than mandatory kill-switch provisions in product design or deployment agreements.
What to watch
Whether Parliament advances an alternative safety proposal in response to the rejection, and what specific mechanisms the government intends to support instead as AI incident response policy.