The Minister for Digital and the Creative Industries (Margot James)
With permission, Mr Speaker, I will make a statement today in
response to the Government’s publication of the sector deal for
artificial intelligence—a major collaboration with industry to
secure the UK’s global leadership in AI and data. AI
holds transformative potential for every aspect of our lives—from
how we travel to how...Request free
trial
With permission, Mr Speaker, I will make a statement today in
response to the Government’s publication of the sector deal
for artificial intelligence—a major collaboration with
industry to secure the UK’s global leadership in AI and
data.
AI holds transformative potential for every aspect of our
lives—from how we travel to how we work and live—and for
every sector of the economy. For the UK, the prize is clear:
potentially adding 10% to our GDP by 2030 if adoption is
widespread, with a productivity boost of up to 30%. In
pursuing that prize, we start with strong foundations. The UK
was recently ranked first among OECD countries in the Oxford
Insights Government AI readiness index and is home already to
globally recognised AI companies, including DeepMind,
Swiftkey and Babylon Health. This success is supported by the
UK’s strong combination of world-leading universities that
drive skills and research and development, a thriving venture
capital market for AI that leads among economies of
comparable scale and trusted universal public institutions
such as our NHS that can pioneer data-driven innovation and
connect the power of AI to the public good.
The sector deal that we have published today on govt.uk
outlines how we are intending to build on those foundations
and on the independent review led by Professor Dame Wendy
Hall and Jérôme Pesenti, reflecting that review’s spirit of
partnership and consultation between the Government, industry
and academia. In skills, we have made it the UK’s ambition to
be home to the world’s best and brightest minds in AI. We
will support the Alan Turing Institute’s plans for expansion
to become the national academic institute for AI and data
science.
We will create 200 additional PhDs in AI and related
disciplines by 2021, rising to 1,000 Government-backed PhD
places at any one time by 2025. We have set a target of 200
places for an industry-funded AI master’s programme and we
will introduce an internationally competitive Turing
fellowship programme in AI. We are also doubling tier 1
exceptional talent visas to 2,000 a year to attract the
brightest minds to the UK. In infrastructure, we will ensure
that the ambition of our AI sector is matched by the means of
delivery in communications, in data and in supercomputer
capacity.
In telecoms, we are investing more than £1 billion to create
a country with world-class digital capabilities from 5G
mobile networks to full-fibre broadband. In supercomputer
capacity, we are pleased to announce that, as part of the
sector deal, the University of Cambridge will make the UK’s
fastest academic supercomputer, capable of solving the
largest scientific and industrial challenges at speed,
available to AI technology companies. This complements
Government support for start-ups’ access to hardware via the
Digital Catapult’s machine intelligence garage and builds on
Cambridge’s existing track record as a hub for AI and
technology.
We are also investing in data, because data is
infrastructure; just as roads help us to reach a destination,
data helps us to reach a decision. For AI systems, data is
the experience that they learn from to be able to process
information and interact usefully with the world and its
citizens. This Government have always valued the economic
benefits of pioneers having access to high-quality public
datasets, but some of the most useful datasets for AI are
those that organisations are reluctant to share with others,
perhaps because they have commercial value. The world’s first
centre for data ethics and innovation will therefore work to
unlock the usefulness of that data, while protecting its
value for those organisations and, most importantly, keeping
people’s data secure. We want AI-led growth to be both
empowering and inclusive, and that applies to our approach to
data. This also informs our commitment that the benefits of
AI should be felt across the whole country.
The sector deal makes a commitment to establish clusters and
regional tech hubs designed to power AI growth across the
entire country. We will invest £21 million in Tech City UK
over four years so that it can expand into Tech Nation, thus
transforming the UK from a series of stand-alone tech hubs
into a powerful network that can place the nation firmly at
the top of the global tech rankings. The new Tech Nation’s AI
programme will operate in two or three key clusters where
there is existing AI expertise and a potential to provide the
mentoring, growth and support that is needed for ambitious AI
businesses to thrive.
Industry shares our ambition to link promising AI clusters
into a powerful network of high-growth AI businesses, and the
sector deal confirms that. For instance, Barclays is
launching the bank’s first Scottish Eagle Lab in Edinburgh,
in a new partnership with the UK’s largest tech incubator
CodeBase, to help AI businesses go from start-up to scale-up.
Taken together, these measures send a signal to AI business,
science and research communities around the world. The UK
will attract talent, invest and lead on standards and ethics.
That message is made clear by the investment of industry
that, along with investment from the Government, forms a
total package of almost £1 billion. That sits alongside the
£250 million already allocated for connected and autonomous
vehicles, and the £1.7 billion that has been announced for
the cross-sectoral industrial strategy challenge fund thus
far.
Our ambition in AI will not stop at this sector deal. This is
only the start of UK plans to seize the opportunities of
modern technology and to ensure that it follows the highest
ethical standards. By so doing, we will ensure that we can
build a Britain that is fit for the future. I commend this
statement to the House.
-
Ordinarily, a shadow Minister is expected to take no more
than half the length of time taken by the Minister, and
they certainly should not exceed five minutes maximum.
But I simply say to the right hon. Member for Birmingham,
Hodge Hill (Liam Byrne) that it is not obligatory to take
that full length of time, and he need not think that he
is doing the House or the nation a gross disservice if he
takes less time.
-
I am grateful for that guidance, Mr Speaker.
It is always good to see the Minister in her place. She
certainly knows how to pack the House with her
statements. I am sorry that I am not able to respond to
the detail of her statement, but it only came to me by
email at 11.25 am, so I was not able to see it in
advance. None the less, it is good of her to show up and
present her plans, which were first presented to The
Times, rather than to Parliament. It is welcome that the
Government have now decided to step into the breach where
a policy should be. It is a shame that the Minister has
allowed the French, the Americans, the South Koreans and
the Chinese to get there first, but better late than
never.
From what I can divine from what the Minister said to the
House, no new money has been announced today. Rather, a
top-down earmarked amount of cash has already been handed
out to research councils. That is fine as far as it goes,
but it is an awful long way short of the £1 billion of
funding that President Macron has just announced to
support artificial intelligence in France.
As the Minister knows, a strong AI sector in this country
will be built on three basic foundations: good networks,
which support the internet of things; trust, which
supports big data; and skills, which require a great
education system. Today, our science spend is, I am
afraid, in the second league, our digital networks are
lamentable, our framework of trust is hopelessly out of
date—in fact, we still have no date for the Data
Protection Bill returning to this House—and our skills
base is alarmingly thin. Indeed, the Government prayed in
aid Jérôme Pesenti in their strategy this morning, but he
was told by the Government that he was not allowed to
look at the maths curriculum, as he told the House of
Lords Artificial Intelligence Committee when he was
giving evidence to its inquiry. That is why we call for
science spend not at 2.4% of GDP, but up at 3%. We think
there should be universal provision of networks at 30
megabits per second, a Bill of digital rights to restore
trust and a national education service to restore the
skills base.
In the interests of brevity, Mr Speaker, I have some
specific questions for the Minister. First, the sector
plan makes great play of a £2.5 billion investment fund
delivered by the British Business Bank. Is this just for
AI, or for innovation generally? Is it DEL—departmental
expenditure limit—funding or loan guarantees? Is it
intended to deliver grants or loans? When does that money
come online? Is it, in other words, spin over substance?
Secondly, the Minister will know that artificial
intelligence will accelerate the destruction of existing
jobs, so when will we have a White Paper on the future of
work? This will be a G20 agenda item in November. We have
heard nothing about the Government’s plans to explore
this and put in place adequate protections for workers
today.
Thirdly, where is the strategy to harness Government
procurement, with a cross-Whitehall futures unit, to use
the power of Government to drive forward this agenda?
That is the way that every other western, and eastern,
nation drives its science and tech investment. Why are
the Government not doing this?
This morning, the Bank of England published figures
showing that this Government have presided over the worst
productivity figures since the late 18th century. If we
are to be masters of the fourth industrial revolution, as
we were of the first, the Government will have to do an
awful lot better than this.
-
I apologise if the right hon. Gentleman received my
statement such a short time ago. That was certainly not
my intention. I shortened my statement in anticipation of
Mr Speaker’s wish for brevity, and perhaps that delayed
matters.
It is a shame that the right hon. Gentleman’s response
was pretty overwhelmingly negative, given that we start
from a good base in this country with our world-leading
institutions and our state of readiness. Oxford Insights,
which I mentioned in my statement, has put us at No. 1
across the world on its Government AI readiness index. He
referred to other countries, predominantly in Asia, which
are indeed investing hugely in this area. [Interruption.]
He mentions Macron from a sedentary position; he also
mentioned him in his response. We are of course delighted
that President Macron is also seeing the potential for
AI. There is nothing wrong with that. We are a
global-facing country. It is great that our partners in
Europe are also committing to this agenda.
The right hon. Gentleman mentioned the importance of data
and digital performance in this country. The UK is in a
very competitive position in terms of digital
performance. We now have 95% access to superfast
broadband, which was delivered by the end of last year.
Only yesterday, I was at a meeting with all the
successful parts of the country that bid for the 5G test
bed and pilot programme, which will put us in a pivotal
position to take advantage of the internet of things.
These test beds and pilots extend right across the
country, from the Orkney Islands to the south-west of
England, and a new wave of bids will be announced this
summer. We are very determined on this front.
The right hon. Gentleman asked about the British Business
Bank. I can assure him that this is new money that will
be provided to tech start-ups and tech scale-ups via both
equity finance and loans. I remind him that as of
September last year, the British Business Bank had
supported, through a combination of loans and equity
finance, very many tech companies to the tune of £350
million. We are building on success.
The right hon. Gentleman talked about the future of work.
This is an extremely important issue. Of course, we
recognise that we are in for a fast ride here. The pace
of technological change is such that momentous changes
that are not always predictable can potentially displace
groups of workers. We are very cognisant of the need to
smooth the path through continuous training. The
industrial strategy has at its heart improving the world
of work and access to retraining throughout people’s
lives, so that no one is left behind by these
technological advances.
Finally, on that critical subject, the Government’s
response to the Taylor review and the consultations that
we announced at the beginning of the year will be out at
some point this summer, and I am sure that the points
raised by the right hon. Gentleman about the future of
work in the context of technological advance will be
taken extremely seriously.
-
-
Order. Before I take questions on this statement, I
should advise or rather remind the House that there is a
further statement to follow, but that statement is not
likely to absorb much time in the Chamber, not least on
account of the 39 Back-Bench Members who wish to
contribute to the principal debate of the day, on customs
and borders. I would not want colleagues to be taken
unaware, and therefore I am taking the unusual step of
indicating that the right hon. Member for Normanton,
Pontefract and Castleford (Yvette Cooper), the right hon.
and learned Member for Beaconsfield (Mr Grieve), the hon.
Member for Brighton, Pavilion (Caroline Lucas) and the
hon. Member for Na h-Eileanan an Iar (Angus Brendan
MacNeil), together with the 39 Back Benchers who wish to
speak in that important debate, should really as I speak
be beetling across to the Chamber, because it would be
most regrettable if they had not arrived for the start of
the debate, which they so eagerly sought and of which I
am myself in eager anticipation.
-
I thank the Minister for her statement. I did not require
artificial intelligence to establish DeepMind’s view on
Brexit. When I googled “DeepMind” and “Brexit”, it came
up immediately with the company’s concerns about the
impact of Brexit. How will the Minister ensure that the
IT innovation that currently flows around the European
Union can continue post Brexit? How will she ensure that
top-flight companies such as DeepMind can continue to
attract EU citizens to work in that important sector?
Finally, she will be aware that the EU investment fund
for British start-ups, which was investing £500 million
in 2016, has dropped to £53 million. Much of that money
would have been spent on artificial intelligence. Is she
confident that Government funds will be able to replace
that?
-
The right hon. Gentleman makes some very serious points.
We are committed to making the UK a destination for
global talent and equity finance and venture capital in
the years to come, post Brexit. As he says, we already
have companies that have invested substantially in the
UK; he mentioned DeepMind, and we have many others. We
have doubled the number of exceptional talent visas to
2,000, and we are offering scientists who have come to
this country on tier 1 visas full settlement rights at
three years. I mentioned in my response to the right hon.
Member for Birmingham, Hodge Hill (Liam Byrne) that, post
the EU investment in this country and AI, the Chancellor
has announced substantial additional moneys available
through the British Business Bank to replace over the
long term EU funding that will be lost once we leave the
EU.
-
I thank the Minister for advance sight of her statement.
In Scotland, we believe that this should be the best
place to live, work and do business. While we welcome
this announcement, a number of questions have to be
answered.
We welcome the investment by Barclays in the Edinburgh
CodeBase hub, but we want to know what the Government are
going to do that is new. As has been pointed out, there
is no new money here, and the statement is short on
detail and the level of ambition required. The Minister
talked about making data secure for people, but are the
Government taking seriously people’s right to own their
own data in the future?
It is important that 5G is developed to take advantage of
AI. Are the Government considering licensing spectrum and
an outside-in approach, to make sure that the outlying
parts of the nations of the UK, which normally get served
last, have a fair shot at getting that connection early?
In terms of the customs union, what work has been done to
mitigate the negative effects of a hard Brexit on the
ability for us to take advantage of AI trading? What work
has been done on the effect on jobs, and does the
Minister agree with the Scottish Trades Union Congress
that workers should be collectively involved in how
automation is introduced?
Finally, on the digital skills gap, what news is there of
young people, particularly girls and young women, being
encouraged into the sector, and how will we attract the
brightest and the best, given the current immigration
shambles, particularly the situation facing EU nationals?
Will the Minister work with the Scottish Government to
set positive targets on immigration, and what discussions
has she had with the Scottish Government about these
proposals?
-
The hon. Gentleman will forgive me if I fail to address
all his questions, for want of time, but I appreciate his
positive response to the sector deal. On 5G, I take his
point about the licensing of spectrum. The Department is
undertaking a telecoms infrastructure review looking,
among other things, at the way we license spectrum to
make sure it is the most efficient at reaching all the
areas currently underserved, including in many parts of
Scotland.
The hon. Gentleman asks about jobs and the digital skills
gap. We are addressing this through the sector deal and
our wider industrial strategy—for example, by placing an
emphasis on reskilling throughout people’s lives. He asks
particularly about diversity and women. We have launched
the tech challenge charter to engage businesses in both
AI and the wider technology sectors and to encourage them
to commit to looking closely at their recruitment,
retention and progression policies—to make sure that
women and girls are supported throughout—and to
publishing their data in a transparent manner.
I have not personally had discussions with the Scottish
Government, but I am sure the Secretary of State has, and
I look forward to working with them and Scottish
colleagues across the House to make sure that Scotland
gets its fair share of the benefits of the sector deal.
-
Artificial intelligence is coming—we cannot stand in its
way—but we must enhance it to the benefit of workers in
this country. In that regard, however, the statement was
woefully inadequate. The companies developing AI are
looking to cut their bottom lines by cutting the number
of people they employ: driverless vehicles, aeroplanes
with no pilots—the list is becoming endless. What will
the Government do to come up with a strategy not just for
the UK—the way the Minister put it sounded esoteric—but
for people and jobs? We need an AI strategy that will
benefit workers in this country.
-
I want to reassure the hon. Gentleman that, just as there
will undoubtedly be some job displacement as a result of
technology, let alone AI, so new jobs will be created. We
are looking at this. I mentioned the response to the
Taylor review by colleagues in the Department for
Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, who are looking
at this. We are taking it extremely seriously and will
come forth with more developments on our projections in
due course, but be assured: new jobs will come and
replace many of the more routine and repetitive jobs, and
we will be upskilling people so that they can take
advantage of these new opportunities.
|
