With the NHS still struggling, the prison crisis still simmering and Britain’s borrowing costs rising, there are few easy jobs available in Keir Starmer’s government at present.
But even in such difficult times, it is a task to convince Silicon Valley’s best to help make Britain a leader in the AI revolution – all while one of the top tech bosses uses the Labor government as a regular punching bag and others ostentatiously close in on it. Donald Trump – is among the most challenging.
This is the task entrusted to Peter Kyle, the Minister for Science and Technology, who has become an important figure in Starmer’s government.
If balancing concerns over freedom of expression online, the impact of AI on the climate crisis and the threat it poses to wipe out humanity isn’t enough, the economic headwinds Britain is now experiencing make the launch of the government’s AI action plan this week even more important. Kyle is worried that Britain might miss the boat.
talking to observer“We need a concerted effort as a country to ensure now, while we are still in the foothills, that we are laying the foundations,” he said. “I don’t want us to be a country that always buys what is on the shelf from others. I want us to be at the forefront. We are the third largest market for artificial intelligence.” In the world, but we do not touch the aspects of our potential.
He said Britain was well placed to be a “great place” for AI, adding that done right could see the technology cut costs for the country, as well as generating higher tax revenues and valuable economic growth.
But it does have some big calls – many of which may upset people within his party.
Details of the AI plans are not yet clear, apart from talk of a “sovereign AI team” tasked with helping UK-based companies, but it is already clear that they will involve Kyle and Starmer speaking in a language not normally associated with the Labor Party. party.
Reducing regulation where possible and learning from the breakneck speed of development in Silicon Valley are the talking points. It will also include a “course correction” on the safety of AI, which Kyle believes Rishi Sunak has paid too much attention to, scaring the public in the process.
Kyle, who has been an ardent supporter of a second EU referendum, also spies an opportunity to adopt AI regulation that would give the UK an edge over Europe.
“I wouldn’t criticize any other region for the way they deal with very difficult challenges. But there is no doubt that there is a different approach in the way I legislate and regulate AI compared to the EU. “Britain is at its best encouraging innovation, but always providing safety since… the beginning.”
One of Kyle’s many political problems is that this week’s show will come at a time when Big Tech leaders are shifting to the right in their preparations for the arrival of Donald Trump.
Just last week, Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg announced that he had ended fact-checking at the tech company and reduced restrictions on topics including immigration and gender — a move interpreted as a signal to Trump that Meta was now an ally of free speech.
Zuckerberg also said he wants to work with Trump to push back against governments that have, in his opinion, been too zealous in regulating social media companies. While the UK and its new online safety law were not mentioned, Zuckerberg criticized Europe as a hub for censorship.
Meanwhile, Elon Musk, owner of X, regularly and violently attacks Britain and the Labor government.
Kyle’s strategy is one of extreme pragmatism. He sympathizes with Zuckerberg and is looking for common ground. “What’s interesting is to see someone grappling with the same issues that I grapple with as a legislator,” he said.
“Yes, he wants to protect freedom of expression, but he has also twice said they need to do a better job of removing illegal content from the internet.”
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The approach also extends to musk. “I am available to talk to any innovator, and any potential investor, about AI in the UK,” he said.
“The rest of it, I’m not interested in — except when it turns into the kind of content that’s starting to emerge around Jess [Phillips, the safeguarding minister recently attacked by Musk]. But I have a very high threshold for that.
However, Kyle is adamant about one thing: Britain’s attempts to force social media companies to do more to combat illegal and harmful content will not end – no matter how keen the UK is to attract investment in AI.
“The threshold for these laws allows responsible freedom of expression to a very, very high degree,” he said. “But I make this basic point: access to British society and our economy is a privilege – it is not a right.
“None of the basic protections we provide to children and vulnerable people are up for negotiation…Safety is not something that is at odds with economic investment.”
Then comes the thorny political issue of the massive, power-hungry data centers needed to power the UK’s AI industry, as well as the towers needed to connect it all to the power it needs.
Kyle says bold action will be taken. “On Monday, I will launch an AI action plan with the Prime Minister that will clearly outline how we will build the digital infrastructure that will support all of this,” he said.
“If we didn’t have the computer power, if we didn’t have the data processing power, if we didn’t have the infrastructure that tied it all together — we wouldn’t be able to build anything on top of it.”
There is another problem brewing at home. In their quest for big tech money, figures in the creative and media worlds fear ministers will give AI companies too much freedom to crawl original content to train their models – putting their livelihoods and businesses at risk as a result.
Consultation on this issue is ongoing and Kyle is reassured. “I wouldn’t choose one over the other,” he said.
“I think the consultation you’ve published is a very good starting point. There are several weeks left for people to have their say. I’m in 100% listening mode on this – quite honestly. But what I won’t do is pit one against the other.”