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Newsnight presenter Matt Chorley encouraged Rory Stewart and his fellow guests to create a viral moment ahead of the episode that has generated plenty of attention on social media.
Whether intentional or not, Stewart granted Chorley’s wish in the show’s first episode to air in the earlier slot of 7pm, on 18 September, ahead of which the host had quipped to the panellists: “Anything that can be used to go viral, maybe a punchup or whatever, a tiff at the table, if you want to do that, that’d be great.”
Moments later, the former Conservative MP turned Rest is Politics podcast co-host gained widespread attention when Chorley asked Stewart’s fellow panellist, New Statesman political editor Ailbhe Rea, what Westminster could do about the development of AI.
To hear Rea’s answer, Stewart swiftly swung his body around in his chair and stared at the journalist in a rather intense moment that’s since been mocked online.
Chorley didn’t notice anything strange in the moment, telling The Guardian: “I didn’t notice Rory looking particularly intently at anyone during the course of the programme.”
However, he became aware that the moment had cut through the public consciousness as “friends and family who don’t normally watch it” started sending him clips.
During the Newsnight broadcast, Stewart, who co-hosts The Rest is Politics with former Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell, warned: “On a global level the US and China must begin to get regulation in place for safety on AI. These things could be phenomenally dangerous but it’s the US and China who are driving the frontier labs.”
He continued: “Then the question is Britain, and how we protect ourselves from being completely dependent on the US and China if we build all of our military, all of our hospitals, all of our businesses on American and Chinese AI, and they have the kill-switch, and all the value goes to them? It’s terrifying.”
Stewart is no stranger to viral moments. In 2019, he made headlines after removing his tie during the BBC’s Tory leadership debate and the following morning, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Why did I take my tie off? Well, because I felt like taking my tie off. It felt like a good idea at the time.”
Newsnight airs Monday to Thursday at 10:30pm on BBC Two, and at 7pm on Fridays.
