A unit will be set up within the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology to unlock artificial intelligence's potential to improve productivity and public services.
The department announced today that it has commissioned an "AI Opportunities Action Plan" to identify ways to accelerate the use of AI to improve people’s lives by making public services better and developing new products.
At the same time, DSIT announced an AI Opportunities Unit, which it said will “bring together the knowledge and expertise to take full advantage of AI and implement recommendations from the action plan”.
Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, said the unit will unlock AI’s “full potential to grow a more productive economy, create good jobs across the country and deliver the excellent public services that people deserve whilst saving taxpayers money”.
Science secretary Peter Kyle has appointed Matt Clifford, a tech entrepreneur and chair of the Advanced Research and Invention Agency, to lead the development of the action plan, which the department said will “set out a roadmap for government to capture the opportunities of AI to enhance growth and productivity and create tangible benefits for UK citizens”.
The action plan will set out how the UK can build an AI sector “that can scale and compete on the global stage” and how to boost take up of the technology across all parts of the economy. It will also consider the necessary infrastructure, talent, and data access required to drive adoption by the public and private sectors, and how it can develop and attract top AI talent in the public and private sector.
Kyle said the action plan and the unit which will deliver it aim to put “AI at the heart of the government’s agenda to boost growth and improve our public services”.
Earlier this week, prime minister Keir Starmer confirmed that the Government Digital Service, Central Digital and Data Office, and Incubator for Artificial Intelligence had been moved from the Cabinet Office to DSIT, creating a new “digital centre of government”.
He said Clifford, who is the co-founder of Entrepreneur First, an international talent investor and startup accelerator, will bring “a wealth of experience and shares my ambition when it comes to realising the opportunities of AI, using it to drive growth and improve people’s lives”.
Clifford, who also co-led Rishi Sunak's AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park in November, will deliver a set of recommendations to the science secretary in September. He will be supported by DSIT officials, who will help him to identify and address any potential conflicts of interest that may arise, the department said.
Clifford said he was “excited to start work and develop an ambitious roadmap to identify the biggest opportunities and support the new government as it makes important choices about where to focus its efforts”.
Work on the action plan starts today and will engage key figures across industry and civil society to help in its development.
The action plan will also consider key enablers such as the UK’s compute and broader infrastructure requirements by 2030, how this infrastructure is made available for start-ups and scale-ups and how to develop and attract top AI talent in the public and private sector.