The prime minister’s mission for AI to transform Britain is the right message
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Editorial: Rather than taking decades, Keir Starmer suggests that productivity using AI might be doubled in five or 10 years. If so, it will certainly dissolve many of his present problems. Sir Keir Starmer’s blueprint will “mainline AI into the veins of this enterprising nation”, driven by a government that “won’t sit back and let opportunities slip through its fingers”; which wants to “turbocharge” change, go “all in” and “win the global race”.
As it was at the dawn of what was then called the “information technology revolution” four decades ago, exactly how – and what – will change is necessarily unknown. It would be foolish for any government to try to second-guess the precise way AI will transform economies and people’s lives. In the 1980s, the then government encouraged research, incentivised investment and made sure that a BBC Micro computer was installed in every school. The private sector was allowed to get on with the rest.
It is the same now. What is needed – and is reassuringly clear in the prime minister’s action plan – is that government should create the necessary conditions for the new industry to thrive. This is particularly necessary because the potential of generative AI (so-called machine learning) is, as yet, only being glimpsed at. We understand it is capable of creating new content and fresh methods of analysis from huge datasets – beyond that, its scope and capacity is largely unknown. Civil servants are ill-placed to steer the new breed of wealthy, highly ambitious tech entrepreneurs – yet they must be guided within a necessary framework for public safety.
