The government's plan for the impending AI revolution has been laid out by the prime minister, but questions about the health of the economy and the future of the chancellor have overshadowed elements of the rollout.
Here's an at-a-glance look at we've learned this afternoon:
Keir Starmer has announced the government's AI action plan, promising to turn the UK into an AI superpower, as well as use it to "turbocharge" the economy and improve public services.
Among the announcements are £14bn of investment in new data centres, thousands of AI jobs being created and plans for a UK-based supercomputer. Read more about what Starmer announced in this post here.
The PM's boosterish rhetoric may have in part been an attempt tosoothe skittish markets, externalamid a slide in the pound and spike in government borrowing costs, writes our economics editor Faisal Islam.
The less-than-stellar economic news prompted reporters to grill Starmer on the future of Chancellor Rachel Reeves - who said he had "full confidence" in her, but did not answer if she would still be in post at the next election.
But, as our political editor Chris Mason reports, government sources say Reeves will still be heading up the Treasury forthe whole of theExperts weigh in on government's AI plans
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Across the scientific community, there has been some positive reaction to Starmer's AI plans.
Gaia Marcus, director at the Ada Lovelace Institute, says it was "encouraging" to see a recognition by the government of its spending power, which can be used "to shape the development of AI through smarter procurement".
Sir John Lazar, who heads the Royal Academy of Engineering, hailed the announcement as "a key step to ensure the UK can seize the opportunities associated with the responsible development and adoption of AI across the public and business sectors".
While Dr Shweta Singh, assistant professor of information systems at the University of Warwick, says that although the AI plan offers "significant benefits", it also "faces several major challenges despite its promise". One significant challenge, she says, is regional inequality, as historically such innovations have been focused around London or the south-east.
We know the what, but not so much the how
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Liv McMahon
Technology reporter
The PM’s speech contained a lot of punchy quotes about what AI could potentially achieve with the government’s new plan.
But questions are already being asked about how much time and money will be needed to achieve the vision amid concerns about over-promising and under-delivering.
And more abound over how exactly some of the measures outlined today will "unlock" AI’s benefits while mitigating its risks – particularly when it comes to protecting data that will be made available to AI developers in the National Data Library.
Generative AI tools that can create text, images, video and more in response to simple text prompts, for instance, have a habit of making things up – something we’ve seen with erroneous AI summaries of BBC notifications or search results.
And there have also been concerns around the role that systems capable of generating biased or inaccurate information could play if integrated into important decision-making environments, such as regarding access to health services or benefits.
"Just as the government is investing heavily in realising the opportunities presented by AI, it must also invest in responding to AI’s negative impacts now and in the future," says Gaia Marcus of the Ada Lovelace Institute.
"It is critical that the government look beyond a narrow subset of extreme risks and bring forward a credible vehicle and roadmap for addressingActors union campaigns against 'AI show stealers'
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Chris Vallance
Technology Reporter
While the government has been keen to promote positive reviews from various tech luminaries for its plans, there were boos, even hisses even from the performing arts union Equity.
The actors union is campaigning against so called "AI show stealers", worried that AI could be used to create synthetic performances without actors being properly rewarded or having control of how their voice and likeness is used.
Paul W Fleming, Equity general secretary, has accused the AI sector of carrying out intellectual property theft on an industrial scale.
"Government is effectively giving the green light to Big Tech to further line their pockets at the expense of our world-leading creative industries," he says.
The government is currently consulting on proposals for how copyright works could be used by AI firms to train their models – including giving rights holders the ability to opt-out.
Fleming says these proposals are simply "flawed".
"AI can be a powerful positive force but protections must be in place, and creative workers and their trade unions must be part of policy making and future licensing schemes," he says. broader AI harms." Parliament.
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