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His Majesty will host the summit at Dumfries House later this week

King Charles faced major protests today over his upcoming artificial intelligence summit in Scotland, with activists scrawling a giant message in the sand on Prestwick beach.

The message "AI? Eh naw" could be seen inscribed in the sand near Prestwick Airport this afternoon, meaning "AI? Er, no".

Positioned right along the flight path into Prestwick Airport, the mammoth note served as a pointed rebuke to the technology industry figures set to arrive in the region for the King's summit.

His Majesty is set to host executives of industry leaders such as Nvidia, Anthropic, Google DeepMind and OpenAI in Dumfries House, Ayrshire, to "convene, listen and encourage" an open discussion on AI.

The campaigning group is firmly opposed to three proposed data centres across the Ayrshire region which, they claim, will deplete much of Scotland's natural resources.

Lisa Beacham, 29, who co-ordinated Tuesday’s demonstration, said: "At the moment the scale of what is being proposed is completely unprecedented for this country and for many countries in Europe."

She added: "King Charles has an absolutely fantastic reputation as an environmentalist, so we’re really keen that King Charles will use his influence and position to explain to these tech bosses that what they’re doing is highly dangerous, especially as we do have our own UN obligations for the climate.

"The taxpayer will not be picking up the scraps of the carbon use that will be used for these datacentres so we really hope King Charles plans to lay down the law here."

Campaigner Roz Lauchlin, 68, of West Kilbride, demanded a moratorium, claiming the situation is "going far too fast" and they must "find out exactly what the implications of all this could really be for Scotland."

At his upcoming Scotland summit, King Charles intends to offer a neutral forum for dialogue on an issue with profound implications for every corner of society.

"He wants to ask the question: 'Would it be helpful to have a set of principles?'" a source told The Times. "His feeling is it is not an easy thing to do, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try."

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Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang, Google DeepMind founder Sir Demis Hassabis, and IonQ chairman and chief executive Niccolo de Masi, are among those expected to attend.

Paolo Benanti, who advises the Pope on AI and technology ethics, is also reported to be joining the summit.

But it is set against a wary and temperamental backdrop, with concern about the AI industry growing.

Anthropic leader Dario Amodei penned an essay on Saturday, titled We Must Pace the Frontier, in which he warned of the "serious" risks facing the exponentially growing AI sector.

He proposed a three-point plan to aid healthy and safe growth, including an independent monitoring board and global regulation.

His suggestions were widely commended within the industry, with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman taking to social media, revealing he "agrees" with Mr Amodei.

However, Donald Trump lashed out at what he described as "conspiracy theorists" for raising concerns.

Instead, writing on his Truth Social platform, he said the only "guardrail" needed against AI was a "STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT and the USA has that, in spades!"