Good morning. Today the government wants to talk about AI (artificial intelligence). It is due to publish its AI opportunities action plan this morning, Keir Starmer is giving a speech on the topic, and Peter Kyle, the science secretary, is giving a statement to MPs later. The main elements have already been well trailed. Here is the Department for Science’s overnight news release, and here is a story by Robert Booth summing it all up.
As usual, though, what the government wants to talk about and what it will end up being forced to talk about are not the same. The macro story that matters most in UK politics at the moment is the rise in UK government borrowing costs (largely driven by global economic developments, and the prospect of what Donald Trump will do when he becomes US president next week), and whether this will lead to fresh spending cuts in the spring. On the business live blog, Julia Kollewe says UK bond yields (borrowing costs) are marginally up again this morning.
The two stories are, of course, related. Rishi Sunak was also very interested in AI when he was PM and only 14 months ago he chaired a big, international summit on AI. The contrast is striking. Sunak was predominantly focused on the threat posed by AI, which is why it was an “AI safety” summit and, as it wound up, Labour issued a statement criticising him for not committing to swift “binding regulation” to impose safeguards on tech companies developing AI. Now Labour is in power, it is desperate to generate growth, and the announcement today is totally focused on what AI can do for the economy and public services. “Safety” does not seem to get a mention.
(The 2023 AI summit also culminated with Sunak engaging in a slighty fawning Q&A with Elon Musk. That won’t be happening again, obviously. The world’s richest man has now flipped from being willing to humour the person leading the UK government to trying actively bring to bring him down.)
In an analysis, Dan Milmo explains why Starmer now sees AI as central to his growth strategy.
Milmo says: “Low productivity has bedevilled the UK for years, partly due to low investment in nifty technology. AI, it is hoped, will help British workers produce more, which should raise wages and allow spare capital – you don’t need so many workers to do a certain job – to be invested elsewhere. This is even more important if, with an ageing population, the UK must cope with fewer working-age adults in the future.”
Starmer is giving his speech later this morning, but he has already pubished an article in the Financial Times which is bound to give a flavour of what he will be saying, and in it he says AI could “usher in a golden age of public service reform”.
The global race for AI leadership is fast and getting faster. Some countries are going to make AI breakthroughs and export them to the world. Others will be left to buy those breakthroughs and import them. I don’t believe government should be passive or neutral on this – this is the bread and butter of industrial policy. AI is the greatest force for change in the world right now. I am determined to harness it to usher in a golden age of public service reform. And I am determined the UK will become the best place to start and scale an AI business. I know growth in this area cannot be state-led. But it is absolutely the job of government to make sure the right conditions are in place.
He also argues, counterintuitively, that AI could lead to public services becoming more human.
[AI] offers credible hope of a long-desired boost in public sector productivity. Nurses, social workers, teachers, police officers — for millions of frontline workers, AI can give the precious gift of time. This means they can refocus on the care and connection aspects of their job that so often get buried beneath the bureaucracy. That’s the wonderful irony of AI in the public sector. It provides an opportunity to make services feel more human.
Here is the agenda for the day.
Morning: The government publishes its AI opportunities action plan.
Late morning: Keir Starmer gives a speech on AI.
2.30pm: Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, takes questions in the Commons.
After 3.30pm: Peter Kyle, the science secretary, gives a statement to MPs about the AI plan.
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