The UK's Misplaced Enthusiasm (with Gina Neff), 2025.01.20

In January, the United Kingdom's new Labour Party prime minister, Keir Starmer, announced a new initiative to go all in on AI in the hopes of big economic returns, with a promise to “mainline” it into the country’s veins: everything from offering public data to private companies, to potentially fast-tracking miniature nuclear power plants to supply energy to data centers. UK-based researcher Gina Neff helps explain why this flashy policy proposal is mostly a blank check for big tech, and has little to offer either the economy or working people.

Gina Neff is executive director of the Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy at the University of Cambridge, and a professor of responsible AI at Queen Mary University of London.

References:

The AI Opportunities Action Plan

‘Mainlined into UK’s veins’: Labour announces huge public rollout of AI

Gina Neff: Can democracy survive AI?

Labour's AI Action Plan - a gift to the far right

Fresh AI Hell:

"AI" tool for predicting how Parliament will react to policy proposals

"AI" detects age based on hand movements

Apple Intelligence misleading summaries of news

Book simplification as a service

CEO doesn't understand why kid turned AI features of toy off

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Music by Toby Menon.
Artwork by Naomi Pleasure-Park.
Production by Christie Taylor.