Major plan for AI to be unleashed throughout Britain launched by Keir Starmer

Keir Starmer will vow to use tech to “transform” people’s lives as he launches major plans to unleash artificial intelligence across Britain.

In a challenge to tech billionaires in Silicon Valley, the Prime Minister will announce an AI Opportunities Action Plan to “win the global race” in developing AI. In a landmark speech on Monday, Mr Starmer will promise to use AI to make our public services more efficient and boost productivity to put more money in people’s pockets.

He will also announce plans to build a brand 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.

Mr Starmer said the tech will “drive incredible change in our country” and “has the potential to transform the lives of working people”. The PM continued: “The AI industry needs a government that is on their side, one that won’t sit back and let opportunities slip through its fingers.

“And in a world of fierce competition, we cannot stand by. We must move fast and take action to win the global race. Our plan will make Britain the world leader.”

The Prime Minister wants to see AI used across the whole of government and has written to all Cabinet ministers to ask them to drive up AI adoption in their departments.

Among his plans, Mr Starmer wants to use the tech to speed up planning consultations by streamlining lengthy admin processes to get Britain building more homes. He also wants to feed AI into 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 PM said AI will be ramped up in the NHS, where it is already being used to spot pain levels for people who can’t speak, diagnose breast cancer quicker, and get people discharged faster. Teachers are also using AI to plan lessons or mark homework, giving them more spare time to spend with kids.

As part of the Action Plan, three major tech firms – Vantage Data Centres, Nscale and Kyndryl – have committed £14billion to build AI infrastructure and deliver 13,250 jobs across the UK. It is on top of the £25 billion in AI investment announced at the International Investment Summit. New AI Growth Zones – the first of these in Oxfordshire – will drive more jobs and investment within communities across the country so young people aren’t forced to leave home to work in the sector.

Concerns raised about the fast expansion of AI include the environmental impacts as well as the lack of regulation. Technology and Science Secretary Peter Kyle and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband will chair a new AI Energy Council to understand the energy demands and challenges which will fuel the technology’s development.

When it comes to regulation, experts have long warned that AI has the ability to be racist, sexist or classist because it is trained off existing datasets that could include biases. The creative industry has also sounded the alarm about proposed changes to copyright law that would give AI firms free access to music.

The UK appears to so far be following more of a US-approach to AI, prioritising innovation over regulation. Officials want to steer clear of creating legislation like the EU’s AI safety laws which they see as burdening businesses.

Speaking to the Mirror on Sunday, Mr Kyle said he is “clear-eyed” that safety is crucial to the success of AI. But he said ministers must not let the benefits of AI “slip through our fingers”. “To the casual observer, AI is often seen as one of two things – some distant, futuristic concept with 0s and 1s on a computer screen. Or something which poses great risks as a modern-day Pandora’s box,” he said.

But he said the opportunities for Britain are “huge” as he spoke about its use in the NHS and in schools, adding: “There’s so much more waiting to be unlocked.”

Tory peer Ben Houchen warned that the UK must be careful in how it balances innovation with regulation as he warned against letting the AI world become like the “wild west” of social media. He said on Sunday: “The UK Government, for many years, took the view that we wanted to try and relax regulation as much as possible, because that would then focus the investment in the UK, and the Americans did the same thing.

“What we’re looking forward to when we look at AI is, do we want to be part of that race? The Europeans have decided no, they’re going to heavily regulate it. I think the Americans are going to be on the other side of that and not regulate it. Do we want to capture some of that pie? But obviously there are pluses and minuses to no regulation – and that kind of wild west that we saw with social media over the last 10 years.”