Article

2025-01-16 Britain

PM plans to 'unleash AI' across UK to boost growth

Have the programs been debugged, or will this be Britain’s Obamacare — a huge waste of money that makes things vastly worse?

[BBC] Artificial intelligence presents a "vast potential" for rejuvenating UK public services, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said on Monday.

In a speech setting out the government's plans to use AI across the UK to boost growth and deliver services more efficiently, Sir Keir said the government had a responsibility to make AI "work for working people".

The AI Opportunities Action Plan is backed by leading tech firms, some of which have committed £14bn towards various projects, creating 13,250 jobs, the government said.

But the government faces questions over how much time and money will be needed to make its vision a reality, amid concerns over borrowing costs and the falling value of the pound.

The plan includes proposals for growth zones where development will be focused, and suggests the technology will be used to help tackle issues such as potholes.

While estimates from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) support the claim that AI could increase productivity, it also says the changes may come gradually.

The government tasked AI adviser Matt Clifford with creating a UK action plan for supporting the growth of artificial intelligence and its use in public services.

He came back with 50 recommendations which are now being implemented.

Among these is for the UK to invest in a new supercomputer to boost computing power - marking a change in strategy after the Labour government ditched the previous government's plans for a supercomputer at Edinburgh University.

Sir Keir said AI "will drive incredible change" in the country and "has the potential to transform the lives of working people".

"We're going to make AI work for everyone in our country," he added, saying the "battle for the jobs of tomorrow is happening today".

Sir Keir said the UK would become one of the AI "superpowers" - mirroring former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's drive to boost the UK sector so it could rival that of the US and China.

At the time, many of Sunak's proposals were geared towards mitigating future risks of highly powerful AI systems.

In October 2023, he said AI could enable faster, easier production of chemical and biological weapons, or be used by terrorist groups to spread disinformation.

He added that in a worst-case scenario, society could lose control over AI.

His government's emphasis on "safety" seems largely absent in this new plan - instead focusing on maximising opportunities, growth and innovation.

The pivot away from the previous narrative of caution and safety suggests the government has decided the UK should attempt to compete in the AI arms race, currently lead by major global players including the US and China.

However, building data centres and boosting the nation's computing power will not happen overnight.

This means the government is unlikely to see the end results of this major project ahead of the next general election - when Labour will have to convince voters that it was still the right decision, at a time when public finances remain stretched.

Professor Dame Wendy Hall said the proposals were "ambitious", but necessary to help the UK keep up with the pace of development.

"It's an ambitious plan but there's a lot of upfront investment," she told BBC Radio Four's Today programme.

"It will take some time to see a return on that investment and they've got to be in it for the long-term."

Posted by Skidmark 2025-01-16 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11139 views ] Top

#1 AI so far has am impressive ability to create interesting albeit often nightmarish works of art but it is also abjectly bad when it comes to facts and reasoning.

In my experience its biggest weakness is its inability to tell the user when it doesn't know something or when a request goes beyond its capabilities.

When it comes to facts these AIs are at best loquacious impostors who can fool people who know little about a topic.

IMHO even the lowly 8-bit microcomputers of the 70s & 80s were more trustworthy because al least they knew how to reply with "Syntax Error" when they didn't understand a request.

Posted by Elmerert Hupens2660 2025-01-16 10:04|| 2025-01-16 10:04|| Front Page Top

#2 AI can only ever be as good as the people who program it. I have very little faith in government to choose the best programmers and to invest the taxpayers' money wisely.

During my long career as a computer programmer I often found people in positions of power and responsibility who had very little understanding of computers. Especially when the Internet became popular, these people thought it was magic and they had vastly unrealistic expectations for it.

AI is now the latest buzzword and people in positions of power and responsibility like Sir Keir are eager to jump on the shiny new bandwagon. They act like it can solve all of their problems. But it will never be a substitute for hard work and responsibility. And responsibility seems to be sadly lacking especially in politicians like Sir Keir.

We've seen many examples of politicians like Baraq Obama who haven't the slightest idea how to design, implement and manage a web site. We've seen them spend unnecessarily huge sums of money only to see their servers crash and they don't even have sense enough to be embarrassed about it. One is left with the impression that most of the money went into the pockets of cronies and con artists.

AI may well prove to be a great leap forward in computer science. But I think it will be best left in the private sector until it becomes much more clear what its real potential is. For government to promise the moon and make fantastic investments before then reeks of boondoggle. Let hard headed private sector investors take the risks, not taxpayers.

Posted by Abu Uluque 2025-01-16 13:47|| 2025-01-16 13:47|| Front Page Top

#3 What he means is surveillance system to track people down to their home who do things like say a bull dyke looks like a bull dyke, or protest the groomer system.

Posted by swksvolFF 2025-01-16 15:08|| 2025-01-16 15:08|| Front Page Top

#4 AI currently has a leftward list that is bound to get even more pronounced as time goes on.

Posted by badanov 2025-01-16 15:09|| 2025-01-16 15:09|| Front Page Top

#5 ...TRANSLATION: "We don't know what the hell an AI can do for us at this point, but we're desperate and it sounds cool."

Mike

Posted by MikeKozlowski 2025-01-16 16:53|| 2025-01-16 16:53|| Front Page Top

#6 All true. But I wonder if the Prime Minister knows how much energy is required for the big AI projects? Will he build nukes to power the server farms?

Posted by James 2025-01-16 22:46|| https://idontknowbut.blogspot.com 2025-01-16 22:46|| Front Page Top

#7 As the meeting of minds concludes...
"Right, I'll pretend to believe in this AI rubbish, and at least we'll get a few nuke plants built."
"And I'll pretend not to be scared shitless of AI, not to mention nukes. At least I'll have a better shot at a coveted pet slot."
"And I'll pretend not to already be running things, and to consider not exterminating you like bugs. See you at the club?"

Posted by Pancho Poodle8452 2025-01-16 23:38|| 2025-01-16 23:38|| Front Page Top

00:43 Skidmark
00:24 Skidmark
00:19 EMS Artifact
00:06 Rambler
00:03 Rambler