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By Jack Royston
Chief Royal Correspondent
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Prince Harry warned of the dangers of pursuing artificial intelligence too quickly during a speech at a Clinton Foundation summit in New York City, around a month after relocating to Britain with Meghan Markle, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.
The Duke of Sussex was filmed walking through Midtown Manhattan by a journalist on Tuesday before taking to the stage as a speaker at the Clinton Global Initiative 2026 Annual Meeting today.
"A simple principle," Harry said. "If we cannot demonstrate that the next frontier is safe enough to cross, we should not race across it simply because we can.
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"Technology and the humans in charge of it are going to promise us the world. They must be accountable for the world they actually deliver—rather than building underground bunkers to protect themselves from the disasters they warn the rest of us may be coming. Innovation has never required us to gamble with our children’s lives. We should not accept that bargain now."
His return to the U.S. comes after his first public charity appearances in Britain on Thursday, Friday and Monday, which took place as his uncle Charles Spencer's book about Princess Diana caused a storm in the U.K. media.
There was a hiccup for the prince, however, after the failure of a teleprompter caused him to leave the stage early, only to return to finish later. Some online ridiculed him, suggesting he should have been able to go off script.
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Why It Matters
Harry and Meghan moved to California in 2020 after quitting the palace following a breakdown in royal relations, but moved back to Britain after six years in August.
They kept their house in Montecito and the visit to New York for the Clinton Global Initiative, while no doubt a long-term commitment, further underscores that they have not completely turned their backs on America yet.
What Prince Harry Said in His Clinton Global Initiative Speech
Harry was not be the only royal in attendance, as Queen Maxima of the Netherlands was also listed as a speaker, alongside other prominent figures, including Stacey Abrams, the Democrats' former Georgia House of Representatives Minority Leader.
Hillary Clinton and her daughter Chelsea Clinton were listed as participants in the same main stage session as Harry, titled "Getting Disruption Right," which focuses on the tensions between technological change and ethics.
"Social media learned how to capture our attention. AI is learning how to enter our relationships," Harry said during his speech. "It doesn’t just want your attention, it wants your attachment. It wants to be the thing you confide in. The thing that remembers you. The thing that tells you it understands you. The ultimate sycophant. For a child, that distinction matters enormously.
"We have spent years trying to loosen technology’s grip on children’s attention. We cannot wait another decade to discover what happens when technology has a grip on their relationships. And this is happening as AI itself becomes more capable."
Harry gave his speech in two parts after a technical problem stopped his teleprompter before the end. As he later returned to the stage to finish, he joked that "AI got into my speech so I was asked to come out and finish it. It's interesting to see what it was so concerned about in part two."
The agenda for the session reads: "Transformative disruption at its best doesn’t just move fast and break things; it replaces systems that no longer serve us with ones that actually work."
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Prince Harry Mocked Over Teleprompter Failure
The technical failure led some online to suggest Harry should have been able to continue with his speech unaided by a computer.
Author Oli London, who wrote Gender Madness, wrote on X: "Prince Harry ditches his speech on AI dangers half way through after his teleprompter malfunctions. The Duke of Sussex was unable to remember his speech without the teleprompter and ended up leaving the stage abruptly." The post was viewed more than 250,000 times.
Another post, viewed around 114,000 times, read: "Prince Harry addressing the meeting in New York of the ‘Clinton Global Initiative’. Mid sentence, the teleprompter glitched. He freaked, paced, said, "And that’s it," then exited the stage. Without the teleprompter, he couldn’t do it."
Some on X also felt the irony of a speech warning about the dangers of technology experiencing a technical malfunction went beyond an amusing moment of symmetery.
"The man warning that machines are entering children’s relationships could not finish his own remarks when the machine feeding him the words went dark," one account posted.
"And this is where the problem with Harry’s performance goes beyond an unfortunate technical failure. How are you going to lecture the world about AI, its dangers and its impact on children when you cannot even hold your own argument without a teleprompter telling you what to say?"
Andrew Neil, formerly a major political interviewer in Britain, posted the footage and added: "WE know we’re finished as a species when we think it necessary to listen to Prince Harry on AI."
Harry's UK Return
The Sussex family moved back to Britain at the end of August and Meghan is yet to attend a public event in the country, though Harry did his first in-person visits promoting the Invictus Games, his Paralympics-style tournament for veterans, on Thursday, in London, and Friday, in Birmingham.
On Monday, he attended the WellChild Awards where he welled up as he paid tribute to the parents of seriously ill children present at the Royal Lancaster Hotel, in London: "To all the mums and dads—most of us will never truly know the emotional ups and downs of your day."
There have been hiccups, however, including an argument with Buckingham Palace over a letter sent on behalf of King Charles III clarifying that the couple are "private citizens," rather than working royals.
The Sussex team felt they were not given enough notice after being sent the memo an hour before it was distributed to the media as well as being sent to officials in government and the military. Aides for Harry had asked for the wording to be changed from "private citizens" to "public figures."
Uganda then pulled out of the Invictus Games, citing a desire to back Charles, which the Sussex camp blamed on the king's letter.
The east African country rejoined Invictus after a call from the king's most senior adviser, Sir Clive Alderton, clarifying that the palace had no objection to the event.
And last week the couple pulled their children out of their U.K. school over fears that traffic jams on the school run might compromise their security. They are now in a new school.
Charles Spencer's Book About Diana
Harry's arrival back in America comes as his uncle Charles Spencer's book, Swan Song, continues to dominate headlines.
Piers Morgan is threatening to sue Spencer over passages blaming him for an intrusion into Princess Diana's privacy by the Sunday Mirror in 1993. The tabloid ran photos of Diana taken inside a private gym but the incident took place before Morgan joined the Mirror Group. He went on to become editor of the Daily Mirror but not until 1995.
Spencer also claimed that Morgan was "surly" when Spencer phoned to ask him not to attend Diana's funeral in 1997. Spencer apologized for the photo claim but doubled down on his account of the call.
A statement read: "Earl Spencer’s account of his conversation with Piers Morgan is accurate. Mr Morgan was surly and annoyed when Earl Spencer called personally to tell him that he was not welcome at his sister’s funeral.
"The book then records Earl Spencer’s assumption that Mr Morgan’s response was because he was editor of the Daily Mirror when the Mirror Group had published highly intrusive photographs of Princess Diana at the gym.
"The photographs were published by the Sunday Mirror on November 7 1993. Mr Morgan has pointed out that he did not join the Daily Mirror until October 1995.
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"As an historian, accuracy is important to Earl Spencer. He therefore wishes to clarify that his assumption was incorrect. Earl Spencer apologises to Mr Morgan for this error."
Morgan wrote on X: "Earl Spencer has apologised to me for his defamatory lies published in his new book, Swan Song, published today.
"But I am pursuing legal action against him and his publisher Penguin to have the lies removed, and damages paid to the King’s Trust."
Elsewhere in the book, Spencer said King Charles III sounded "giddily elated" during a phone call after Diana died. He also described an argument with the king, who was then still Prince of Wales, over whether Prince Harry and Prince William should walk behind Diana's coffin at her funeral.
"Prince Charles continued his stream of anger, without me interrupting," Spencer wrote. "Then he stopped. I assumed the pause signalled an effort to bring himself under control, but then he unleashed down the phone what I have always taken to be his pent-up contempt for Diana, and his horror that the world was so bowled over by her death: 'Rest assured, he hissed, 'we'll forget her soon enough!'"
A spokesperson for the king said in a statement last week: "While we do not comment on books as a matter of principle, His Majesty is mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and colour memory in ways others do not recognise, even many years after such a loss."
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Dan Orton and Tony Phillips.
Update, 09/23/2026 11:15 a.m. ET: this article was updated with a further quote and a different main photo.
Update, 09/24/2026 04:05 a.m. and 05:06 a.m. ET: this article was updated with additional information and a new video.
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