Keir Starmer pushes for AI to power public sector reform

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has pushed for artificial intelligence (AI) and technology to be at the heart of public sector reform, to ensure services are “fit for the future”.

During an in-conversation event with Google’s former chief executive Eric Schmidt at the International Investment Summit in London, Starmer was keen to highlight the potential of AI in the NHS claiming it would “reimagine the health service”.

He said: “The truth is that if we put more money in the health service as it is, we won’t probably improve it, because the demands are too great, we will be forever pulling in extra money. We will probably run it better, but we won’t probably make it really fit for the future.

“The only way to make it fit for the future, is to reform it and to reimagine it, and that’s where AI and technology are so important to this project.”

He urged policymakers to break the cycle of “fear” around technology, adding that if not this could risk the UK falling behind in the sector.  

Starmer said: “Having worked as a civil servant for five years in criminal justice, there’s always an inhibition in government when it comes to technology and change. I saw a real fear of change. We need to make sure that the culture and mindset is changed as well.

“Otherwise, we will know it is a big thing, and that it would make a big difference, but we will be too inhibited in reaching for it in case somebody is held responsible for something that does not do as well as everybody expects.

“We have to change that culture. Otherwise, we risk that technology and AI developing all around us and yet not making it central to government.”

The prime minister also said overregulating the technology sector was “the wrong approach”.

He continued: “It [AI] is a game-changer that has massive potential on productivity and driving our economy and we need to run towards it.”

Starmer’s stance appeared to clash with the King’s Speech earlier this year, which confirmed the UK Government would strengthen AI regulation and focus on targeting those developing the most powerful models.

Schmidt then urged the prime minister to “approve the necessary steps to make these data centers in Britain”.

Data centers were recently classed as Critical National Infrastructure in the UK, yet have come under fire, for the significant amount of energy they require to operate.

Earlier this year, chief executive of the National Grid John Pettigrew, said the power used by data centers, would increase six-fold in the next decade and urged for “bold action” to ensure the network can cope with the spike in demand.

Starmer told delegates that cheap, reliable and homegrown energy would fix the tech and energy “conundrum”.

“If we get this right, it becomes an incredibly important selling point of the UK.”

He continued: “Because alongside our commitment to growth and technology is our commitment to a cheaper, more effective, more independent, more secure energy source, which we can ramp up at scale.

“On the face of it there is a tension [between energy and technology] but I think if we are smart about this, we could turn that apparent tension into a massive advantage.”