You’d be forgiven for thinking your AI was hallucinating.
The recent government hastily convened an “AI Safety Summit” over fears that AI might destroy civilisation.
The latter has just announced a plan that “will introduce artificial intelligence into the veins of this enterprising nation.”
Read more: UK working to ‘get AI in its veins’
All that’s really happened is that the hype around AI has died down – and with it, it’s been compared to the Terminator.
Even the people who make the biggest and most powerful AI systems seem to still be figuring out what they’re good for.
The economic reality of training increasingly large AI models and paying for the hardware and energy needed to run them is another factor.
To be fair to the previous government, its main interest in AI was also the potential for economic growth – but given the mood of the time, it had to be careful with the language.
Not so for Keir Starmer.
With an agenda geared more towards efficiency, improving the public sector and stimulating industry in the UK, AI fits its mission well.
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Complex algorithms are well suited for repetitive and tedious administrative tasks that consume much of the time of teachers, nurses, or tax clerks.
AI can also see patterns or solve problems in large data sets that are difficult for human brains to manage well.
Reducing NHS waiting lists, discovering new medicines from huge patient databases, or simply freeing up teachers or nurses’ time to do their real work are all attractive to politicians.
As well as high-skilled, well-paid jobs in a sector where the UK is already strong.
However, it is a difficult path. It will take more than a plan to encourage more big tech companies to grow or invest in the UK.
Risky too – the NHS and projects like the UK Biobank are the single largest source of patient-level healthcare data in the world.
It’s very attractive to big tech companies that are quickly running out of real information with which to train their ever-hungry AI models.
How to make such data available in a way that benefits his mission without AI taking over some of the UK’s most valuable and private resources is the challenge for Keir Starmer.