The decision by the new Andy Burnham government to disband the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) has led the House of Lords to raise an urgent question over the UK’s artificial intelligence (AI), technology and science strategy.
Peers in the House of Lords asked what will happen to science and technology funding while the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (DBIST) gets up and running.
Crossbench MP life peer Lionel Tarassenko said: “Any organisation like this will take 12 months. And 12 months is an eternity in AI. It’s equivalent to three generations of frontier AI models.”
He asked for reassurances that both the AI Security Institute and the Sovereign AI Unit will be able to keep up momentum, which he described as “essential to their activities during this unnecessary transition period”.
Parliamentary secretary Ruth Anderson responded by emphasising the role Kanishka Narayan now has as AI minister in the Burnham cabinet.
“I think we’re seeing technology move faster than at any point, never mind in my lifetime, but I think over the last hundred years, and it’s incredibly important we keep up, which is why we will now have a dedicated minister in the attending Cabinet to make sure these issues are reflected,” said Anderson.
She went on to state that the AI Security Institute will be part of the Office for the Prime Minister and Cabinet, while UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) will be moved to the newly formed Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (DBIST). She also confirmed that UKRI’s £9.22bn budget for research and development will continue.
Anderson said the Government Digital Service (GDS) will move to the newly renamed Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and the Sovereign AI Unit will also be moving to DBIST.
Liberal Democrat peer Mike Dixon questioned the government’s spending on technology. “The leading global companies are spending about £500bn this year on AI. Our spending as a country will be roughly 0.3% of that,” he said.
Dixon enquired about the focus the government plans to take. “Given the scale of our investment compared to others, does the machinery of government changes reflect the government choosing to focus on an area where we can have stronger comparative advantages as a country, or does it mean that we will continue to try and lead on all of those areas?” he asked.
In response to Dixon’s question, Anderson said: “We’re talking about how technology and how the advancements of technology are going to fuel economic growth going forward. That is a priority for the government.”
Anderson responded to other questions relating to AI, saying: “Everything we’re talking about is AI-enhanced re-industrialisation, and I appreciate that there are many times where we probably use the words AI as short speak for tech or science. That’s just because of how quickly the technology is moving on. But across the eight industrial priority sectors, we will continue to make sure that AI and science and technology are at their hearts.”
The government confirmed in answers to the peers that the changes it is making are designed to embed science and AI at the heart of government policy. This policy is being elevated in prominence through direct involvement of the Prime Minister’s Office and Narayan’s role as cabinet-level AI minister.
