Labour has set out its plans to “turbocharge” the use of artificial intelligence in the UK, bringing the country to the forefront of the technology and making it central to working people’s lives.
The work will “revolutionise” public services, the government says, promising to speed up planning consultations for housebuilding, spot potholes faster, and help reduce the workload of teachers and doctors. There are also major implications for private sector workers.
Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer said AI would drive “incredible change” across the country. “From teachers personalising lessons, to supporting small businesses with their record-keeping, to speeding up planning applications, it has the potential to transform the lives of working people,” he said.
Estimates from the International Monetary Fund claim that the plans could see productivity boosted by 1.5 percentage points, with gains worth up to £47bn a year for the UK every year over the next decade.
Here’s how AI could help – or hamper – your life in the near future:
AI could make your job easier...
A report by the government’s AI adviser Matt Clifford says public sector workers, for example, could save time and boost productivity by using AI assistants to complete “repetitive tasks better and faster”, freeing up to 20 per cent of an employee’s time.
Mr Clifford gives another example of teachers saving up more than 15 hours a week, with AI pilots helping to plan lessons and mark papers. Trials of AI used in marking school papers have turned back 92 per cent accuracy so far.
Other pilots have also seen AI used to draft and structure reports and forms, cutting time to produce documents down by between 20 and 80 per cent. This could save a lot of time for workers in both the public and private sectors.
Sir Keir offered another workplace example: “For a doctor that spends less time on the notes, that doctor can spend more time on the patients.”
...or it could take your job instead
The government says the new AI drive will create 13,250 jobs in collaboration with private tech firms helping to deliver the plans.
However, there are also fears that the capabilities of AI may lead to job losses across many industries. A survey from the World Economic Forum in early January showed that 41 per cent of employers expect to downsize their workforces as AI renders certain skills obsolete.
Pressed on the possibility of job losses by reporters, Sir Keir said: “The question isn’t the loss of jobs, it’s the changing jobs.”
The union Unite said workers need proper protections and must have a say in how AI is rolled out in the UK.
“Our members are already reporting major changes to working conditions due to the introduction of AI, which creates new risks and all too often results in workers feeling alienated and demotivated,” Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said.
She said the union had serious concerns about AI-powered surveillance and “discrimination by algorithm”, particularly with decisions like recruitment, performance assessments and discipline.
AI will play a greater role in NHS and policing
Over the past few years, AI has already begun to become commonplace in the public sector. The NHS uses the technology for services like pain diagnosis, spotting cancer and improving discharge times. Many civil servants also have access to AI “assistants” to help them with tasks like summarising documents and taking meeting minutes.
Mr Clifford’s report says AI has successfully been used by police forces across the country to detect threats and anomalies, as well as “clean up” social media.
In the NHS, a £21m AI diagnostics fund has been created to help develop technologies relating to X-rays and CT scans.
The renewed drive follows reports that the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, is looking to slash departmental spending budgets in the spring, likely taking a toll on public services. The start of the year has been a tumultuous time for government finances, with a sell-off in the bond market causing the value of the pound to tumble.
Pressed on spending cuts, Sir Keir said: “We’ve inherited a real mess in the economy from the last government, same with public services. We’ve got to turn it around, and AI will help us with that.
“We will use it to turn around the economy, we will use it to turn around our public services.”
Mr Clifford’s AI report says that proper AI adoption in the UK could boost the economy by an additional £400bn by 2030.
Will AI put my privacy at risk?
One of the report’s key recommendations is to “unlock” public data sets to be made available to AI researchers. Mr Clifford writes that “government needs to develop a more sophisticated understanding of the data it holds” and “how this value can be responsibly realised”.
The tech CEO also acknowledges that ensuring public trust is essential, laying out the need for guidelines and best practices.
Responding to concerns that using government data in this way could constitute a privacy risk, Sir Keir said that “the use of that data has already driven forward advances in medicine, and will continue to do so.
“So we have to see this as a huge opportunity that will impact on the lives of millions of people really profoundly.”
The prime minister acknowledges that it is important to “keep control” of the data, but rejects the need to have a “defensive stance.”
