British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak began a two-day trip to Washington on Wednesday to lobby for a leading UK role in regulating artificial intelligence, after a warning that the technology may pose an existential threat.
Sunak is due to meet President Joe Biden on Thursday at the White House, where he will renew pledges of unstinting British support for Ukraine in the wake of the destruction of a large dam.
Russia and Ukraine have traded accusations over who blew up the Kakhovka dam, triggering devastating floods.
Any intentional targeting of the dam would represent "the largest attack on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine since the start of the war, and just would demonstrate the new lows that we would have seen from Russian aggression," Sunak told reporters aboard his plane from London.
While Britain cooperates closely with the United States on everything from discussions over giving Ukraine jet fighters to a robust approach on China, Sunak faces a harder sell when it comes to the UK's post-Brexit relevance elsewhere.
London's bid to lead an international response on AI was underlined by Downing Street task force advisor Matt Clifford, who warned that chances of the fast-learning systems wiping out humanity within two years are "not zero."
Interviewed on TalkTV, he said the world needs "to regulate them on a global scale, because it's not enough I think to regulate them nationally."
Sunak wants a future global AI regulator to be based in London, according to sources, arguing that Britain has the requisite expertise and tech sector.
But Downing Street is pushing uphill as the United States talks directly to the European Union about AI regulation, building on a pledge by G7 leaders, including Sunak, in Japan last month.
And Sunak, who meets US business leaders before Thursday's summit, has given up on securing a post-Brexit trade deal with the Biden administration anytime soon.
- 'Battlefield advantage' -
En route to Washington, Sunak announced cumulative US investment of more than £14 billion ($17 billion) into Britain -- though that figure includes some that has already been deployed.
Underlining the US-UK military alliance at the heart of NATO, Sunak also said their economic relationship should be martialed in defense of Western democracy.
"Just as interoperability between our militaries has given us a battlefield advantage over our adversaries, greater economic interoperability will give us a crucial edge in the decades ahead," said Sunak, a wealthy former banker who studied in the United States and retains a property in California.
The prime minister is pushing for US relief to UK carmakers, via greater access to critical minerals used in batteries, after Biden's Inflation Reduction Act offered vast subsidies to companies with US operations.
On the NATO front, Sunak has been talking up Defense Secretary Ben Wallace as the Western alliance seeks a new secretary-general at a summit in Lithuania next month.
US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said he expected Ukraine to be a priority in Thursday's talks, noting Britain's support for the pro-Western nation trying to repel Russian invasion.
- 'Ultimate sacrifice' -
Sunak paid homage to past conflicts with a wreath laying at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery, just outside Washington.
"In memory of those who made the ultimate sacrifice in order that we might live free. We will remember them," said a hand-written message from Sunak on the wreath.
Soldiers fired a 19-gun salute and played the US and UK anthems, as dozens of US armed forces personnel dressed in ceremonial uniforms formed an honor guard.
Sunak was due later to watch the Washington Nationals baseball team play the Arizona Diamondbacks for the second annual "UK-US Friendship Day," marking 238 years of diplomatic relations.
But the keen cricketer ducked the opportunity to throw the ceremonial first pitch -- sparing his blushes if the throw goes astray in front of tens of thousands.
In the wake of transatlantic tensions over trade and Northern Ireland, Sunak hopes to build a closer relationship with Biden than managed by his controversial predecessors Boris Johnson and Liz Truss.
"The relationship is very strong on the fundamentals: defense, security, developing policy on China," commented Leslie Vinjamuri, director of the US and Americas Program at the Chatham House think tank in London.
But on specifics such as AI and trade, Biden is unlikely to give much away heading into a crunch election year, she told AFP.
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