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[ARTICLE · art-131450] src=independent.co.uk ↗ pub= topic=ai-policy verified=true sentiment=· neutral

In The Room | Reform’s £72m war chest - and how real are AI doomsday warnings?

Reform received £72m from two billionaire donors in just 48 hours, a funding surge that anchors this episode of the Independent TV show In The Room. The episode also features Jonathan Black, who spent two decades in government including as Deputy National Security Adviser and represented Rishi Sunak at the 2023 AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park, discussing whether AI doomsday warnings are credible. The Bletchley Park summit produced the first global agreement on frontier AI safety, bringing the US, China and leading AI companies together.

by read1 min views3 publishedSep 16, 2026
In The Room | Reform’s £72m war chest - and how real are AI doomsday warnings?
Image: Independent (auto-discovered)

Independent TV

Showing now | In The Room #

49:52

Reform’s money trail is still dominating the headlines, with two billionaire donors handing the party £72m in just 48 hours. In this episode, Helen and Cleo look at why attempts to curb big money in British politics keep failing, and why Labour’s own position is more complicated than it seems.

And as anxiety over AI moves into the mainstream, we speak to Jonathan Black, who spent two decades at the heart of government, including as Deputy National Security Adviser. He represented Rishi Sunak at the 2023 AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park, which brought the US, China and the world’s leading AI companies together for the first global agreement on frontier AI safety.

New episodes of In The Room come out weekly. Listen to the latest on Apple Podcasts and Spotify**, or watch on** YouTube**.**

source & further reading
independent.co.uk — original article Watchdog bans ‘nudify’ ads on Meta over sex abuse concerns Could Canada become the EU’s first associate member? What we know AI powerhouse boss to join Trump and Xi at White House as fears over technology grow
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