Since the United Kingdom launched Brexit to “regain control” – that was the slogan of those who defended divorce from the EU – successive British governments have been trying to figure out what they want to do with that regained control. In short, what is the place in an increasingly complex world of a country that now travels alone. The new prime minister, Keir Starmer, harassed by markets that have been pushing up the price of public debt for more than a week and questioning the growth plans of the Labor Executive, launched this Monday an ambitious plan to convert artificial intelligence ( IA) in the axis of a “decade of national renewal”.
“Artificial intelligence is today the main transforming force in the world. I am determined to take advantage of it to usher in a new golden era of public services. And also to make the United Kingdom the best place to start or expand AI-based companies. I already know that growth in this area cannot be led by the Government, but it is up to the Government to create the necessary conditions for this development,” Starmer announced.
A little over a year ago, the then British Prime Minister, the conservative Rishi Sunak, also wanted to cling to the AI banner. It was organized in Bletchley Park, the mansion in the English countryside where a team of specialists deciphered the German machine codes in World War II. Enigmaan international summit with which it sought to lead the cooperation of countries and companies to regulate a technological system full of promises, but also threats.
Starmer has embraced his predecessor’s desire to ensure that AI is a safe tool, but has attempted to present a more ambitious approach at the same time. “Do not have the slightest doubt that we are going to work to make this technology safe, but I do not believe that this is the limit of State intervention, and that is where I disagree with the previous Government,” Starmer proclaimed. “We should not just focus on security and let the market do the rest. We have an obligation to make AI useful to the working class, and we should not simply expect it to be. “This is the global competition of our lives.”
Supercomputers and less regulation
The Starmer Government commissioned businessman and AI expert Matt Clifford, who had already launched the AI Safety Institute last year, to design an action plan to address the opportunities of artificial intelligence. Downing Street has decided to assume as its own political commitments the fifty recommendations presented by Clifford, who will also join the Labor Executive as an advisor.
The new measures announced include a relaxation of urban planning regulations in the so-called “AI growth zones”, where new companies want to set up, with accelerated construction licenses and access to all sources of energy or water supply that they need. need the new centers. The first of them will take place in the town of Culham (12 kilometers south of Oxford).
Starmer has committed to multiplying the processing capacity of “public supercomputers” by 20 by 2030, and to create a National Data Library that safeguards and facilitates access to public data and information for the development of AI systems.
One of the main political commitments of the new Labor Government of the United Kingdom is the revitalization of the National Health Service (NHS), which is very deteriorated after 14 years of austerity imposed by the Conservatives. From better management of waiting lists, an advance of the necessary check-ups in some patients or the rapid detection of some symptoms, AI is the main bet to reverse the deterioration of British public health. In the same way that it can serve to eliminate the administrative and bureaucratic burden that overwhelms many public education teachers, or for the maintenance and repair of the deteriorated roads in the United Kingdom.
The need for growth
Starmer is the fifth prime minister of the United Kingdom to take on the AI banner to try to revive the economy of a country that has suffered a decade of weak growth and low productivity, further aggravated by the negative consequences of Brexit.
The paradox is that Sunak closed his Bletchley Park international conference in November 2023 with a hand-in-hand dialogue between him and Elon Musk, who came to London to give his support to the Conservative Government’s intentions to compete for leadership in Europe in the AI race. Barely a year later, the billionaire technology entrepreneur has decided to declare war on the current Starmer Labor Government.
The prime minister has had to dedicate half the time of presenting his plans to promote artificial intelligence to defending the Government’s economic policy, and proclaiming the continuity in the position of his Minister of the Economy, Rachel Reeves, who is increasingly questioned. by British businessmen and many economic analysts.
