By Robert Booth
Publication Date: 2026-02-18 17:57:00
Former chancellor George Osborne has warned that countries that do not take advantage of his new employer OpenAI’s powerful AI systems risk “Fomo” and could become increasingly weaker.
Osborne, who has been serving as head of the $500 billion San Francisco AI company’s For Countries program for two months, told executives gathered for the AI Impact Summit in Delhi: “Don’t be left behind.” He warned that without adopting AI, they could end up with a workforce that is “less willing to stick around” because they may want to seek AI-powered riches elsewhere.
Osborne described the choice facing countries as one between adopting US-made AI systems – such as Open AI – or China. The two superpowers have developed the most powerful AI systems to date.
The fourth intergovernmental AI summit, hosted by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, follows editions in the UK, Korea and France and focuses on using AI to benefit countries around the world…
