Prince Harry Calls AI the “Ultimate Sycophant” and Urges Action to Protect Children

Prince Harry has joined calls to urgently slow the development of artificial intelligence, describing AI as the “ultimate sycophant” and warning that the technology is advancing so rapidly that researchers are already struggling to keep up.

The Duke of Sussex made the comments at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) meeting in New York, amid growing concerns about the potential consequences of rapid AI development. The latest debate was fueled in part by comments from an employee at leading technology company Anthropic, who estimated that there is more than a 10% chance AI could contribute to the extinction of humanity within the next decade.

For Harry, the appearance marked his first public engagement in the United States since returning to the UK. In his speech, he focused primarily on the risks artificial intelligence could pose to children.

According to the prince, systems such as chatbots developed by major technology companies seek to “find you, hook you, exploit you, break you, and then blame you.”

Harry acknowledged efforts by various countries to restrict children’s access to social media and hold technology giants accountable, but warned: “Technology is moving further. And very quickly.”

He also referred to a lawsuit alleging that AI chatbots contributed to the deaths of teenagers who “trusted them with things no child should ever have been left alone with, asking an algorithm.”

“Social media learned how to capture our attention. AI is learning how to enter our relationships,” Harry said.

He accused companies of trying to distance themselves from responsibility for the systems they create and shift the blame onto parents and children.

“It doesn’t just want your attention — it wants your attachment. It wants to become the one you trust with your secrets. The one who remembers you. The one who tells you it understands you. The ultimate sycophant. And for a child, that distinction matters enormously,” the Duke added.

Harry called for the pace of AI development to be slowed and for innovation based on trust and safety to become a priority.

“Even the people who are building these systems are warning us about what happens when AI capabilities begin to outpace safety and human control,” he said.

The Duke of Sussex’s speech was interrupted by a technical problem with the teleprompter, forcing him to finish his remarks in two parts.

When Harry returned to the stage, he joked: “AI interfered with my speech, so I was asked to come back and finish it.”

This is not the first time Harry has spoken publicly about the dangers technology may pose to young people. In 2024, he addressed the Clinton Global Initiative with a warning about the harmful effects of social media and spoke directly to the leaders of social media platforms, describing them as “dangerously powerful” corporations.