UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer will promise to prevent any community from being left behind in the "tech revolution” by using artificial intelligence tools to help people find work.
In a speech at the start of London Tech Week on Monday, Starmer will pledge to back AI for business while using online tools to deliver personalised career advice, according to a Downing Street release.
Rapid adoption of AI has raised fears that the technology will displace jobs and funnel wealth back to tech giants in the US. Starmer will say in his speech the government is clear that the change "must work for everyone, not just a privileged few.”
A new "AI assistant” designed to offer around-the-clock support on career development and job applications will be tried out for three months by the Department for Work and Pensions. Its tools will act as a "job centre in your pocket,” Starmer will say.
"We’re backing British businesses to lead the way, driving growth and investment that turns into more jobs and stronger communities,” the premier will say. "And we’re using tech to bring opportunity to every corner of the country – helping people into work, tackling inequalities, boosting skills and building a fairer future.”
The plans build on AI tools the government is developing with education technology companies, AI firms and startups to provide cheaper access for pupils to one-on-one tutoring. More than 50 firms have bid to develop the tools, of which as many as eight will receive a share of £2.4mil (RM13.03mil) of support. The government hopes to roll out the tools next autumn to 450,000 children on free school meals.
Starmer will also champion the UK’s success at the summit, saying Britain has the world’s third-largest tech ecosystem with more than 200 unicorns worth more than US$1bil (RM4.07bil), and that British startups have raised almost half of Europe’s tech investment this year.
Over the weekend, Business Secretary Peter Kyle said the state will "aggressively” take bigger stakes in fast-growing UK firms to help companies scale up in the UK rather than move overseas.
"You are going to start to see us take more risks, upping the risk threshold in our desire to back British innovation as it scales. I want us to be aggressively ambitious,” Kyle told the Sunday Times.
At the CBI business group’s conference last week, Darren Jones, chief secretary to the prime minister, warned that AI "could see workers losing their jobs” and that wealth created in the UK may end up being "sent over to big US technology companies.”
That would "disrupt the foundation of the British economy” as tax receipts crash, he warned. "That’s not a problem right now, but I can see how it could become a problem in the decade.” – Bloomberg
