Artificial Intelligence: Public Sector
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the UK AI Hardware Plan on public sector employment; and whether her Department has estimated the number of administrative and back-office roles that could be (a) replaced and (b) reduced through the adoption of artificial intelligence technologies.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan
AI has the potential to revolutionise our delivery of public services, but we must ensure that we seize the opportunities of AI whilst minimising the risks. The UK government is committed to ensuring adoption of AI and other data-driven technology in an ethical, safe and responsible way to improve public service outcomes and boost public sector productivity. We are in the early stages of understanding how AI will impact the public sector workforce. We want to provide the best tools to allow them to deliver the highest quality services and early estimations show that AI will enhance, rather than replace roles.
Underpinning this ambition, the AI Hardware Plan, backed by over £1.1bn of investment, aims to secure Britain’s future capability and strategic advantage in the chips and semiconductor technologies that underpin AI, and to anchor a growing share of high-value AI hardware activity and industrial capability in the UK. As the Plan notes, seizing the opportunity of AI hardware development will support high value job creation in the UK.
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