Stephen Fry 'rushed to hospital' after suffering major fall off arena stage

Stephen Fry fell off a stage at the O2 arena last week while in attendance at a technology conference.

Fry was one of the 500 speakers to take to the stage at the event. His speech about Artificial Intelligence on Thursday, 14 September was part of the wider three-day CogX Festival which took place at the O2 Arena.

Today (20 September), a source told the Mail Online Fry fell off the stage as he attempted to exit it and fell two metres to the ground, ending up 'hurt' in the process.

Fry's speech warned about the dangers of artificial intelligence - drawing on how much it 'shocked' him when he discovered there was an AI impersonation of his voice narrating a historical documentary.

The 66-year-old actor, author, narrator and comedian played a clip for the crowd.

As per Fortune, Fry continued: "I said not one word of that – it was a machine. [...] They used my reading of the seven volumes of the Harry Potter books, and from that dataset, an AI of my voice was created and it made that new narration."

The comedian also stressed just how in 'shock' he was upon learning the AI's voice is 'flexible' meaning it could read anything from 'a call to storm Parliament' to 'hard porn' in his voice.

"All without my knowledge and without my permission," he says, adding his agents went 'ballistic' when they heard it.

Getty Images/ Visionhaus

Shortly after his speech, an attendee took to X - formerly known as Twitter - to thank Fry for his 'superb talk'.

"I hope you are ok also after a tumble," Ben Boutcher-West continued. "Your talk was one of the best and made me think about my role a lot."

The Mail Online source said the 66-year-old actor and comedian injured parts of his ribs and legs and was rushed to hospital.

They told the Mail Online: "It looked like it was too dark and there didn't look like there was a handrail.

"He fell two metres to the floor. He looked to have been hurt as he had to leave in a wheelchair."

Twitter/ @BenBoutcherWest

A spokesperson for the CogX Festival told the Mail Online: "We were deeply concerned to hear of Stephen's accident after giving his inspirational speech on the impact of AI.

"We are thinking of him and wishing him a swift recovery. We have opened our own enquiry and until then we are not able to share any further details."

A spokesperson for the council said: "The Council has received an accident report following an event last week at the O2, and is considering whether any further investigations are needed."

LADbible has contacted Fry's representatives and CogX Festival for comment.