UK government sets up AI action plan unit

New government has ambitious plans to use AI to grow the economy, and has hired a tech entrepreneur to help guide the strategy

Published: 29 Jul 2024 16:00

Matt Clifford, tech entrepreneur and chair of Aria, has been hired by Peter Kyle, secretary of state for science, to deliver an AI Opportunities Action Plan for the UK. The role involves identifying ways to accelerate the use of AI to improve people’s lives by making services better and developing new products. “We’re putting AI at the heart of the government’s agenda to boost growth and improve our public services,” he said.

As well as exploring how to build a UK AI sector that can scale and compete on the global stage, the government hopes to use the plan to increase the adoption of AI technology across all parts of the economy. It’s expected to consider the necessary infrastructure, talent and data access required to drive adoption by the public and private sectors.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves said: “Growing our economy and rebuilding Britain to make everyone better off is our number one mission – and artificial intelligence has the potential to raise productivity and help us do that. Our AI Opportunities Unit will unlock its full potential to grow a more productive economy, create good jobs across the country and deliver the excellent public services that people deserve whilst saving taxpayers money.”

The unveiling of the AI Opportunities Unit coincides with a whitepaper, published by the Open Data Institute (ODI), Building a better future with data and AI, based on research carried out by the institute in the first half of 2024. The ODI identified significant weaknesses in the UK’s tech infrastructure that threaten the predicted potential gains – for people, society and the economy – from the AI boom.

Before the general election, Labour’s manifesto outlined plans for a National Data Library to bring together existing research programmes and help deliver data-enabled public services.

In the whitepaper, the ODI said the UK must first ensure the data is AI-ready. As well as being accessible and trustworthy, the ODI said data needs to meet agreed standards that require a data assurance and quality assessment infrastructure.

Research conducted by the ODI found that AI training datasets typically lack robust governance measures throughout the AI life cycle, posing safety, security, trust and ethical challenges related to data protection and fair labour practices. The ODI recommended that the government tackles these issues to make good on its plans for AI.

Nigel Shadbolt, executive chair and co-founder of the ODI, said: “If the UK is to benefit from the extraordinary opportunities presented by AI, the government must look beyond the hype and attend to the fundamentals of a robust data ecosystem built on sound governance and ethical foundations.

“We must build a trustworthy data infrastructure for AI because the feedstock of high-quality AI is high-quality data,” he said. “The UK has the opportunity to build better data governance systems for AI that ensure we are best placed to take advantage of technological innovations and create economic and social value whilst guarding against potential risks.”

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