Burnham, travelling to New York with his wife Marie-France van Heel, told reporters on his flight that he would "meet him where he is at" and search for common ground. His speech to the UN General Assembly is expected to focus on artificial intelligence, a just and lasting peace in Ukraine, and renewed efforts to end the conflict in the Middle East.
The prime minister will also announce the start of work on a new AI and Autonomy partnership between the UK and the US, aimed at protecting critical national infrastructure using AI technology.
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey is expected to criticise the plan at the final day of his party's conference, saying it "doesn't come close to meeting the scale of the threat" and "only risks making us more dependent on a Trump administration in the pocket of the tech bros." Davey will also call for a global pause on superintelligent AI and propose a new International AI Safety Agency.
Separately, the UK revealed that the US and UK have, for the first time, fired an American "heavyweight" torpedo from a British undersea drone in a military exercise. The torpedo, designed to sink ships and deep-diving submarines, was launched from a 12-metre long uncrewed vessel called Excalibur, made in Plymouth, in UK waters last week. It is the first time either country has launched a torpedo from an uncrewed underwater vessel rather than a crewed submarine.