All the important thing factors from Keir Starmer’s AI plan – from supercomputer to chopping academics’ admin

Keir Starmer has set out plans to “transform” people’s lives with artificial intelligence.

The PM vowed to make the UK a “world leader” in AI technology while promising to make public services more efficient put more money in people’s pockets.

He said there is “barely an aspect of our society that will remain untouched by this force of change” – but stressed the government will “not sit back passively and wait for change to come”.

Faced with gloomy economic figures the government hopes AI will help boost growth and create jobs – despite fears over the potential of the technology.

It comes after the Technology Secretary Peter Kyle tasked tech entrepreneur Matt Clifford to create a plan for the use of AI in the UK. The government is said to be taking forward all 50 of his recommendations.

Here The Mirror takes a look at the key points from the government’s AI plan and areas the tech is already being used in.

Cutting admin for teachers

The government has said thousands of teachers are already using AI to plan lessons and mark homework – giving them more time to concentrate on face-to-face time with pupils.

Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden said on Monday that around 30,000 teachers in England are already using Aila – an AI teaching assistant programme. “It saves teachers on average about three and a half hours per week,” he said.

He added: “The kind of application it can do for example is help teachers with a lesson plan, help them produce their powerpoint that’s needed for the lesson. These are tasks that are often just adding to the workload of already overworked teachers.

“Through the use of this tool we are giving teachers their Sunday evening back. That is something well worth doing when we’ve got a recruitment problem in teaching partly because of overwork”.

AI supercomputer

One key part of the plan is to build a new supercomputer with enough AI power to play itself at chess half a million times a second. It means the AI workload that can be carried out using publicly-owned computer power will increase by 20 times by 2030.

The PM said the tech will “drive incredible change in our country” and “has the potential to transform the lives of working people”. He added: “The AI industry needs a government that is on their side, one that won’t sit back and let opportunities slip through its fingers. But last year the government pulled plans for a supercomputer in Edinburgh and accused the Tories of failing to budget for the proposal.

Spotting potholes

AI will be fed into special cameras to detect the characteristics of potholes to stop them from forming.

Robots which identity cracks or holes and fill them to stop surface water going into them have already started being tested in Hertfordshire. The machines called ARRES (Autonomous Road Repair System) have the ability to save time and money by detecting potholes that could get much worse without action.

In October’s Budget, Chancellor Rachel Reeves committed £500million to road maintenance budgets to fix potholes. Labour made fixing potholes a focus point of the election, with its manifesto commitment to fix one million of them.

AI ‘Growth zones’

The government says new “AI growth zones” will be created to drive jobs and investment across the country so “our young people aren’t forced to leave town to get on”.

The first will be in Culham, Oxfordshire, which is home to the Atomic Energy Authority, to speed up planning proposals and build more AI infrastructure, the government said. There will also be an AI Energy Council – chaired by the Energy Secretary Ed miliband – to support the government’s mission to become a clean energy superpower by 2030.

NHS and cancer checks

AI is already being used in the health service to help the NHS diagnose cancer earlier.

In the government’s plan published today Keir Starmer said the technology can also be used to cut “NHS waiting lists by scheduling better appointments”.

The government’s plan also says £21million has already been set aside for an AI diagnostic fund – to enable faster diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer in Trusts in England.

AI talent

The plan said the government should support universities to increase the number of AI graduates. While the UK already he highest rate in Europe – behind Germany in second place – there remains demand for skilled workers.

It also said it should examine the immigration system to attract graduates from universities across the globe producing some of the world’s top AI talent – including the Indian Institutes of Technology.