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Category: Technology

  • Baroness Neville-Rolfe – 2023 Speech at the Government Security Conference

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe – 2023 Speech at the Government Security Conference

    The speech made by Baroness Neville-Rolfe, a Minister of State at the Cabinet Office, on 1 November 2023.

    Thank you, Vincent, for that kind welcome – and good evening, everyone.

    Thank you all for coming and to the Government Security Group in particular for your offer of hospitality in the days of work ahead.

    And I will start with a question.

    Could there be a more important time for a conference on security?

    We meet at a very difficult time. The world is getting darker and we face enormous threats to world security.

    The complexities of security are more evident in the last few months than ever before…

    …War in Ukraine, conflict in Israel and Palestine and the constant drip drip drip of cybercrime and fraud – could – if we let it – become a deluge.

    But it’s not just criminals we need to concern ourselves with…

    …whole countries are turning to their computers to commit crime. It is no longer the loner in their bedroom planning cyberattacks…

    …it’s buildings of people, sanctioned by their state, challenging the basic conditions for an open, stable and peaceful international order which everyone in this room will support.

    We explained the difficulties in our Integrated Review Refresh in March and called out ways in which the world was getting darker.

    Moreover, as the world turns, our security needs will become more complex…

    …and this complexity is being demonstrated in Bletchley Park right now, as the Prime Minister hosts the first ever Global AI Safety Summit…

    …countries from across the world – and tech leaders and innovators – all working together with one goal…

    …which is to ensure that the next tech frontier is as safe and secure as possible.

    Today’s session at our conference is about how collaboration will strengthen the security of our governments…

    …governments that are threatened by increasingly skilled adversaries…

    …adversaries who are determined to exploit our large quantities of data, and hold to ransom our online public services.

    Today, I want to outline how the UK Government is staying secure…

    …and how we are collaborating across the world to improve international security. I have already mentioned cybercrime…

    …soon enough, this type of crime will become so commonplace that it will simply be known as ‘crime’.

    I am clear that the digital world is one of the battlegrounds of the future…

    …where frontlines are not defined by physical borders. This is a big change.

    Hybrid methods of warfare have long been used to destabilise adversaries, but cybersecurity threats are evolving at an alarming pace. Malicious actors exploit vulnerabilities in our interconnected systems.

    A few years ago, WannaCry wreaked havoc in the UK National Health system. Today 8 out of 10 ransomware attacks come from Russian speaking sources.

    However, I believe that the UK is prepared to tackle these challenges.

    Our National Cyber Security Strategy outlines how we will bolster Government digital infrastructure to withstand attacks…

    …we are training businesses and public services about how to remain resilient against digital crime…

    …and as the third largest exporter of cybersecurity services globally, we are sharing our expertise with the world.

    But as criminals adapt their methods, we too must adapt.

    Take the fight against public sector fraud, which transcends national borders and threatens our national security.

    Our leadership in the UK of the International Public Sector Fraud Forum is crucial here.

    Through this dialogue both the UK and our partners are alive to the developing issues…

    …and coming up with ways to fight the fraudsters, wherever they are. I was fortunate to attend their forum earlier this year…

    …and I was struck, very struck, by the strength of our relationship with our Five-Eyes partners…

    …and how that partnership is enhancing fraud prevention, improving investigative techniques, and leading to a better understanding of different types of attacks, including ransomware.

    In fact, ransomware featured strongly in my discussions at Singapore International Cyber Week a fortnight ago.

    It was clear to me that Singapore is a good place for these discussions. It sits at the very heart of the Indo Pacific…

    …which has become a greater focus for British foreign and security policy for a number of reasons.

    It was a successful visit for us all…

    …one which builds on our recent achievements in the region, including the AUKUS agreement, obtaining Dialogue Status with ASEAN, several trade deals and a recent UK Singapore Strategic Partnership agreed by our Prime Minister…

    … a partnership built on how like-minded we are when it comes to cybersecurity, and our joint leadership in advanced artificial intelligence, on which we are spending a lot of time on this week.

    I am pleased to say that we are building on this national and international work.

    This year, we announced a new Integrated Security Fund – replacing the Conflict Stability and Security Fund, which was much loved…

    …which will help keep the UK safe and address global sources of volatility and insecurity.

    With a budget of almost £1 billion, it will, for example, help develop regional cyber strategies and training…

    …both essential components which will help our allies deter cyberattacks on their national infrastructure.

    I mentioned ASEAN, and this fund is delivering technical and policy capacity building in ASEAN

    …but the Fund also supports projects that assist Ukraine and counter Russian disinformation.

    But it’s not enough to bolster projects that already exist…

    …we have to also invest in the skills, skills for the future, so the projects of the future – ones we can’t even comprehend yet – can be created and maintained.

    It is clear that the UK can be a leader in digital skills…

    We are the European leaders in Fintech, with one-thousand-six-hundred firms based here…

    …our telecoms, our computer and information services exports are valued at over thirty-eight-billion pounds…

    …and with 1% of the world’s population – so we’re not that huge – we have built the 3rd largest AI sector in the world.

    Despite this, and I’m sure this is agreed, we must do more globally to foster data and digital skills, and in particular our cyber talent pipeline…

    …and the professionalism of cyber internationally to match our professional success in law and accountancy.

    But, as the threats we face are increasingly global in nature, we have to work with global partners to confront them…

    …and that is why I was so pleased to announce – as part of my visit to Singapore – a new Women in Cyber Network across South East Asia…

    …which will run women-led projects that address regionally specific cybersecurity challenges, with the support of UK best practice, and I was delighted to discover that so many colleagues from the US delegation came from the female side.

    This focus on skills is no more needed than in the area of supply chains.

    Strong and resilient supply chains are of fundamental importance to our economic and national security…

    …and it is prudent to set common standards for suppliers, to support a secure and prosperous international order.

    It has been wonderful to see the Five Eyes’ global leadership flourish in areas such as software security and supplier assurance…

    …but it behoves us to do more and faster.

    Because if we don’t, our adversaries will exploit our open economies to use ownership models and state-backed companies against us…

    …with Huawei and HikVision being prime examples.

    Our new UK Procurement Act – which received Royal assent last week – will help tackle this specific threat.

    It will enable us to reject bids from any Government supplier that poses a threat to national security…

    …and we are setting up a new National Security Unit for Procurement in the Cabinet Office, which will advise the Government on future priorities.

    We are going even further to prevent interference in our political infrastructure through our Defending Democracy Taskforce – of which I am a member – under the leadership of Tom Tugendhat, the security minister at the Home Office.

    It is working across government to protect the integrity of our democracy from threats of foreign interference.

    This is now teeing up work to protect our representatives and voting systems from hostile attacks at our next election.

    Here, too, the importance of collaboration across governments to reduce these and other security risks cannot be overstated. After all, next year is an election year in the EU and US.

    Ladies and gentlemen, it is clear that – in our interconnected world – our security is a shared responsibility.

    What we can achieve together is an all-round ecosystem of security built on our world-class foundations of education, expertise, technology and capability.

    Yes, our security needs are more complex than they used to be, but in the face of that complexity we must remain committed to collaboration.

    Collaboration on our shared security will help us overcome fraudsters, criminals, bandit states – and indeed anyone who wants to undermine the strength of our partnerships for their own gains.

    If we hold our resolve, it is clear to me they will not win…

    …and through our partnerships, we will help build a stronger, more resilient and more secure world.

    Thank you for listening.

  • Rishi Sunak – 2023 Speech on AI Safety Summit

    Rishi Sunak – 2023 Speech on AI Safety Summit

    The speech made by Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, at Bletchley Park on 2 November 2023.

    It was here at Bletchley Park where codebreakers including the British genius Alan Turing cracked the Enigma cipher…

    …and where we used the world’s first electronic computer.

    Breakthroughs which changed the possibilities for humanity.

    So there could be nowhere more fitting for the world to come together…

    …to seize the opportunities of the greatest breakthrough of our own time….

    …while giving people the peace of mind that we will keep them safe.

    I truly believe there is nothing in our foreseeable future that will be more transformative for our economies, our societies and all our lives…

    ….than the development of technologies like Artificial Intelligence.

    But as with every wave of new technology, it also brings new fears and new dangers.

    So no matter how difficult it may be…

    ….it is the right and responsible long-term decision for leaders to address them.

    That is why I called this Summit….

    …and I want to pay tribute to everyone who has joined us, and the spirit in which they have done so.

    For the first time ever, we have brought together CEOs of world-leading AI companies….

    … with countries most advanced in using it….

    …and representatives from across academia and civil society.

    And while this was only the beginning of the conversation,

    I believe the achievements of this summit will tip the balance in favour of humanity.

    Because they show we have both the political will and the capability to control this technology and secure its benefits for the long-term.

    And we’ve achieved this in four specific ways.

    Until this week, the world did not even have a shared understanding of the risks.

    So our first step was to have open and inclusive conversation to seek that shared understanding.

    We analysed the latest available evidence on everything from social harms like bias and misinformation…

    …to the risks of misuse by bad actors…

    …through to the most extreme risks of even losing control of AI completely.

    And yesterday, we agreed and published the first ever international statement about the nature of all those risks.

    It was signed by every single nation represented at this summit covering all continents across the globe…

    …and including the US and China.

    Some said, we shouldn’t even invite China…

    ….others that we could never get an agreement with them.

    Both were wrong.

    A serious strategy for AI safety has to begin with engaging all the world’s leading AI powers.

    And all of them have signed the Bletchley Park Communique.

    Second, we must ensure that our shared understanding keeps pace with the rapid deployment and development of AI.

    That’s why, last week I proposed a truly global expert panel to publish a State of AI Science report.

    Today, at this summit, the whole international community has agreed.

    This idea is inspired by the way the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was set up to reach international science consensus.

    With the support of the UN Secretary General…

    …every country has committed to nominate experts.

    And I’m delighted to announce that Turing Prize Winner and ‘godfather of AI’ Yoshua Bengio…

    …has agreed to chair the production of the inaugural report.

    Third, until now the only people testing the safety of new AI models…

    …have been the very companies developing it.

    That must change.

    So building on the G7 Hiroshima process and the Global Partnership on AI…

    …like-minded governments and AI companies have today reached a landmark agreement.

    We will work together on testing the safety of new AI models before they are released.

    This partnership is based around a series of principles which set out the responsibilities we share.

    And it’s made possible by the decision that I have taken – along with Vice President Kamala Harris…

    ….for the British and American governments to establish world-leading AI Safety Institutes…

    …with the public sector capability to test the most advanced frontier models.

    In that spirit I very much welcome the agreement of the companies here today to deepen the privileged access that the UK has to their models.

    Drawing on the expertise of some of the most respected and knowledgeable AI experts in the world…

    …our Safety Institute will work to build our evaluations process in time to assess the next generation of models before they are deployed next year.

    Finally, fulfilling the vision we have set to keep AI safe is not the work of a single summit.

    The UK is proud to have brought the world together and hosted the first summit.

    But it requires an ongoing international process…

    …to stay ahead of the curve on the science…

    …and see through all the collaboration we have begun today.

    So we have agreed that Bletchley Park should be the first of a series of international safety summits…

    …with both Korea and France agreeing to host further summits next year.

    The late Sir Stephen Hawking once said that –

    “AI is likely to be the best or worst thing to happen to humanity.”

    If we can sustain the collaboration that we have fostered over these last two days…

    …I profoundly believe that we can make it the best.

    Because safely harnessing this technology could eclipse anything we have ever known.

    And if in time history proves that today we began to seize that prize…

    …then we will have a written a new chapter worthy of its place in the story of Bletchley Park…

    …and more importantly, bequeathed an extraordinary legacy of hope and opportunity for our children and the generations to come.

  • Michelle Donelan – 2023 Speech at the AI Safety Summit

    Michelle Donelan – 2023 Speech at the AI Safety Summit

    The speech made by Michelle Donelan, the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, in Milton Keynes on 1 November 2023.

    Good morning, everybody.

    It is my privilege to welcome you all to the first ever global summit on Frontier AI safety.

    During a time of global conflict eight decades ago, these grounds here in Bletchley Park were the backdrop to a gathering of the United Kingdom’s best scientific minds, who mobilized technological advances in service of their country and their values.

    Today we have invited you here to address a sociotechnical challenge that transcends national boundaries, and which compels us to work together in service of shared security and also shared prosperity.

    Our task is as simple as it is profound: to develop artificial intelligence as a force for good.

    The release of ChatGPT, not even a year ago, was a Sputnik moment in humanity’s history.

    We were surprised by this progress — and we now see accelerating investment into and adoption of AI systems at the frontier, making them increasingly powerful and consequential to our lives.

    These systems could free people everywhere from tedious work and amplify our creative abilities.

    They could help our scientists unlock bold new discoveries, opening the door to a world potentially without diseases like cancer and with access to near-limitless clean energy.

    But they could also further concentrate unaccountable power into the hands of a few, or be maliciously used to undermine societal trust, erode public safety, or threaten international security.

    However, there is a significant debate that is very robust…and I am sure it’s going to be very robust with the attendees over the next two days.

    Just about whether these risks will materialise.

    How they will materialise.

    And, potentially, when they will materialise.

    Regardless, I believe we in this room have a responsibility to ensure that they never do.

    Together, we have the resources and the mandate to uphold humanity’s safety and security, by creating the right guardrails and governance for the safe development and deployment of frontier AI systems.

    But this cannot be left to chance, neglect, or to private actors alone.

    And if we get this right – the coming years could be what the computing pioneer J.C.R. Licklider foresaw as “intellectually the most creative and exciting in the history of humankind.”

    This is what we are here to discuss honestly and candidly together at this Summit.

    Sputnik set off a global era of advances in science and engineering that spawned new technologies, institutions, and visions, and led humanity to the moon.

    We, the architects of this AI era — policymakers, civil society, scientists, and innovators — must be proactive, not reactive, in steering this technology towards the collective good.

    We must always remember that AI is not some natural phenomenon that is happening to us, but it is a product of human creation that we have the power to shape and direct.

    And today we will help define the trajectory of this technology, to ensure public safety and that humanity flourishes in the years to come.

    We will work through four themes of risks in our morning sessions, which will include demonstrations by researchers from the UK’s Frontier AI Taskforce.

    Risks to global safety and security…

    … Risks from unpredictable advances,

    … from loss of control,

    … and from the integration of this technology within our societies.

    Now, some of these risks do already manifest as harms to people today and are exacerbated by advances at the frontier.

    The existence of other risks is more contentious and polarizing.

    But in the words of mathematician I.J. Good, a codebreaker colleague of Turing himself here at Bletchley Park, “It is sometimes worthwhile to take science fiction seriously.”

    Today, is an opportunity to move the discussion forward from the speculative and philosophical further towards the scientific and the empirical.

    Delegations and leaders from countries in attendance have already done so much work in advance of arriving…

    …across a diverse geopolitical and geographical spectrum to agree the world’s first ever international statement on frontier AI – the Bletchley Declaration on AI Safety.

    Published this morning, the Declaration is a landmark achievement and lays the foundations for today’s discussions.

    It commits us to deepening our understanding of the emerging risks of frontier AI.

    It affirms the need to address these risks – as the only way to safely unlock extraordinary opportunities.

    And it emphasises the critical importance of nation states, developers and civil society, in working together on our shared mission to deliver AI safety.

    But we must not remain comfortable with this Overton window.

    We each have a role to play in pushing the boundaries of what is actually possible.

    And that is what this afternoon will be all about, to discuss what actions different communities will need to take next, and to bring out diverse views, to open up fresh ideas and challenge them.

    For developers to discuss emerging risk management processes for AI safety, such as responsible, risk-informed capability scaling.

    For national and international policymakers to discuss pathways to regulation that preserve innovation and protect global stability.

    For scientists and researchers to discuss the sociotechnical nature of [safety], and approaches to better evaluate the risks.

    These discussions will set the tone of the Chair’s summary which will be published tomorrow. They will guide our collective actions in the coming year.

    And this will lead up to the next summit, that I am delighted to share with you today will be hosted by the Republic of Korea in six months’ time. And then by France in one year’s time.

    These outputs and this forward process must be held to a high standard, commensurate with the scale of the challenge at hand.

    We have successfully addressed societal-scale risks in the past.

    In fact, within just two years of the discovery of the hole in the Antarctic ozone layer, governments were able to work together to ratify the Montreal Protocol, and then change the behaviour of private actors to effectively tackle an existential problem.

    We all now look back upon that with admiration and respect.

    But for the challenges posed by frontier AI, how will future generations judge our actions here today?

    Will we have done enough to protect them?

    Will we have done enough to develop our understanding to mitigate the risks?

    Will we have done enough to ensure their access to the huge upsides of this technology?

    This is no time to bury our heads in the sand. And I believe that we don’t just have a responsibility, we also have a duty to act – and act now.

    So, your presence here today shows that these are challenges we are all ready to meet head on.

    The fruits of this summit must be clear-eyed understanding,  routes to collaboration, and bold actions to realise AI’s benefits whilst mitigating the risks.

    So, I’ll end my remarks by taking us back to the beginning.

    73 years ago, Alan Turing dared to ask if computers could one day think.

    From his vantage point at the dawn of the field, he observed that “we can only see a short distance ahead, but we can see plenty there that needs to be done.”

    Today we can indeed see a little further, and there is a great deal that needs to be done.

    So, ladies and gentlemen, let’s get to work.

  • Michelle Donelan – 2023 Speech at the Guildhall on AI

    Michelle Donelan – 2023 Speech at the Guildhall on AI

    The speech made by Michelle Donelan, the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, on 30 October 2023.

    Thank you – it is a pleasure to join you all this evening.

    We have some of the most exciting and innovative thinkers in the world of AI and beyond around the room tonight.

    And of course we are immensely grateful to the City of London for kindly hosting us in this fantastic venue this evening.

    But for our City of London friends here tonight who were hoping for a night off from the numbers and the balance sheets I am afraid you are going to have to wait a bit longer because the UK’s AI balance sheet tells such an extraordinary story that can’t be ignored.

    With 1% of the world’s population, we have built the 3rd largest AI sector in the world.

    We have rocketed ourselves to a 688% increase in AI companies basing themselves here in less than a decade.

    UK AI scaleups are raising almost double that of France, Germany and the rest of Europe combined.

    And more money is invested into AI safety here than in any other country in the world.

    By the end of the decade – our AI sector will be worth half a trillion dollars.

    By 2035, it is predicted to be double that. A trillion-dollar AI sector here in the UK.

    For context, that is equal to the value of our entire tech sector today.

    But as the numerous AI startups and scaleups around the room tonight will know, the numbers only tell part of the story.

    The true value of course is the 700,000 hours of time saved for doctors in hospitals and teachers in our schools.

    On our roads, AI models are piloting a new age of electric, self-driving cars which may one day eliminate road death.

    And in some of our classrooms, AI is instantly translating lessons into any language – including Ukrainian for our refugees who have recently settled here.

    But we are only just scratching the surface.  We stand at a pivotal juncture in human history.

    What Alan Turing predicted many decades ago is now coming to fruition.

    Machines are on the cusp of matching humans on equal terms in a range of intellectual domains – from mathematics to visual arts through to fundamental science.

    As Turing foresaw, this progress has not come without opposition.

    Yet the potential for good is limitless if we forge a thoughtful path ahead.

    What could the future really look like?

    The pioneering American computer scientist J.C.R. Licklider envisioned a symbiotic partnership between humans and machines.

    Licklider predicted this could lead to the most “intellectually creative and exciting” period in human history.  But to get there, we must be transparent with the public.

    And we need to show beyond doubt that we are tackling these risks head-on.

    That is why, last week we became the first country in the entire world to communicate to its citizens a clear explanation of what the risks at the frontier of AI could be.

    This drew upon genuine world-leading expertise, including from many of you in this room, and which will lead the conversation not just at home but across the globe.

    Because science fiction is no longer fiction. Science fiction is now science reality.

    Just a few years ago, the most advanced AI systems could barely write coherent sentences.

    Now they are writing poetry, helping doctors detect cancer and generating photorealistic images in a split second.

    But with these incredible advances, come alongside risks.

    And we refuse to bury our heads in the sand.

    We cannot ignore or dismiss the countless experts who tell us plain and simple that there are risks of humans losing control, that some model outputs could become completely unpredictable and that the societal impacts of AI advances could seriously disrupt safety and security here at home.

    The Summit will be a moment where we move this discussion forward from the speculative and philosophical. To the scientific and empirical.

    AI is not some phenomenon that is happening to us, it is a force we have the power to shape and direct.

    I believe we have a responsibility to act now.

    That is why, since I was first appointed Secretary of State I have sought to grip these issues with every tool at my department’s disposal.

    Through our Frontier AI Taskforce – chaired by leading tech entrepreneur Ian Hogarth – we have built an engine of AI experts to help us tackle these risks head-on.

    We have brought in some of the best and brightest talent in the world.

    From civil society such as the Lovelace Institute and the Centre for Long-Term Resilience, to academics from our leading universities, to researchers from industry leaders.

    Just as the Covid Vaccine Taskforce made us one of the first countries in the world to roll out a working Covid vaccine, this taskforce is making the UK the strongest and most agile country in the world when it comes to AI safety.

    In recent months, our taskforce has recruited renowned experts to guide its work including one of the Godfathers of AI, Yoshua Bengio and GCHQ Director Anne Keast-Butler.

    And it has partnered with leading technical organisations including ARC Evals and the Centre for AI Safety to better understand the risks of frontier AI systems.

    We now want to turbocharge this momentum. To fulfil our pledge to become the intellectual and geographical home of AI.

    Which is why the Prime Minister announced just last week, that the next step in this journey will be turning our taskforce into a new AI Safety Institute based right here in the UK.

    This Institute will lead a global effort in understanding the risks we’ve publicly talked about and stopping them before they actually pose risk.

    It will also carry out research into new safety methods so we can get ahead of the curve and ensure developers are using the right tools at the right time to manage risks.

    The work and findings of this institute will shape policy not just domestically but internationally too – helping developers and partner governments innovate safely and collaboratively.

    This is not just the right approach I would argue it is the only approach.  AI knows no geographical boundaries. The risks cut across borders, cultures and societies across the globe.

    That is why the Summit must not be seen as the end of a journey, nor as a blunt tool to fix the problem in one swoop.

    As AI evolves over time, our collective response must evolve too.

    We have to distinguish between the high risk work at the frontier of AI, and the vast majority of companies whose development is much lower risk.

    A one-size-fits-all system that ignores these important nuances will be destined to fail, and will stop us reaping the enormous benefit for our society that so many of you here tonight represent.

    Making that 0.1% at the frontier safer will benefit both them and the remaining 99.9% of the sector – allowing us to improve consumer confidence and adoption across society.

    Because we should be unapologetically pro-innovation, pro-business, and pro-safety. We must not pull up the drawbridge to innovation.

    Our approach to AI will be the building blocks for creating a legacy for generations to come.

    Indeed, I am delighted to announce that after the curtain falls on our global AI Safety Summit, Bletchley Park will get its first-ever, permanent AI summit exhibition.

    What happened at Bletchley Park eighty years ago opened the door to the new information age.

    And what happens there this week will open the door to a new age of AI. Where no life is needlessly cut short by cruel illnesses like cancer.

    A world where near-limitless clean energy is the norm. Where our children have personalised education that unlocks their hidden talents and where we have more time to do the elements of our jobs we are passionate about rather than tedious paperwork and administration.

    Because as we meet tonight, I truly believe that we are at a crossroads in human history.  To turn the other way would be a monumental missed opportunity for mankind.

    Every time a transformational technology has emerged it has brought with it new risks.

    The motor car created road accidents, but in turn we created seatbelts and established rules of the road.  AI is no different.

    Our Summit this week affords us an unmissable opportunity to forge a path ahead where we can form those rules of the road together as an international community.

    This is a chance to unify behind the goal of giving people in every corner of the globe confidence that AI will work for humanity and not against it.

    Thank you.

  • Tom Tugendhat – 2023 Speech on Fraud and AI

    Tom Tugendhat – 2023 Speech on Fraud and AI

    The speech made by Tom Tugendhat, the Security Minister, on 31 October 2023.

    It’s an enormous pleasure to be with you and I’m very grateful to be back at RUSI.

    I gave my first foreign policy speech when I took over the Chairmanship of the Foreign Affairs Committee here.

    I know RUSI’s vision has always been to inform, influence and enhance public debate to help build a safer and more stable world.

    The mission has endured for 200 or so years now. The mission has not changed but the medium has.

    Today the range of challenges we face has never been greater.

    So it’s right that here, at the home of strategic thinking, we’re gathering to build on the foundations of those who shaped our security in the generations before us to make sure that endures for the generations to come.

    So a profound thanks to our hosts, and also to you all, for being here on the eve of the first major global summit on AI security.

    As with the summit itself, we have representatives here from government, from industry, from civil society, academia, and law enforcement.

    Whatever your profession, whatever sector you represent, you are here because we need you.

    Because we need each other.

    Like so many areas of my responsibility, the government cannot do this alone.

    Our role in government is to understand the threats that we face and target resources, helping others to come together and meet our challenges in the most effective way possible.

    You can tell a lot about a government from the operating system they build for society.

    Some countries build a system that are designed to control.

    Other build a system designed to exploit.

    Here in the UK we build systems that are designed to liberate.

    To free individual aspiration and creativity for the benefit of all.

    And that’s what security means to me.

    It’s not a means of closing things down.

    It’s about creating the conditions required to open up a society.

    A safe environment in which ideas can take root, and opportunity is available to all.

    That’s why we need to get this right.

    Because technology as transformative as AI will touch every part of our society.

    If we succeed, hardworking families up and down the country will reap the benefits.

    If we don’t we will all pay the price.

    The stakes are very high, but coming together today, in this way today sends the right message.

    There are two core themes for the programme today. They come from different eras.

    The first is fraud, which in its various guises, is as old as crime itself.

    When Jacob stole Esau’s inheritance by passing himself off as his brother, that was perhaps the first description of fraud in the Bible.

    The first record of fraud actually is possibly older, it dates from a fraud case related to copper ingots and is recorded 4000 years in Babylon.

    The last time I spoke about Babylon in RUSI I was in uniform describing how I was one of many armies to have camped under its walls.

    The challenges posed by Artificial Intelligence are comparatively new.

    Its democratisation will bring about astonishing opportunities for us all.

    Sadly that includes criminals.

    We know that bad actors are quick to adopt new technologies.

    Unchecked, AI has the power to bring about a new age of crime.

    Already we’re seeing large language models being marketed for nefarious purposes.

    One chatbot being sold on the darkweb – FraudGPT – claims to be able to draft realistic phishing emails:

    mimicking the format used by your bank, and even suggesting the best place to insert malicious links.

    That doesn’t just have implications for the realism of scams.

    It has huge implications for their scale as well.

    I don’t want to be in a situation where individuals can leverage similar technologies to pull off sophisticated scams at the scale of organised criminal gangs.

    We don’t want to find the Artful Dodger has coded up into Al Capone.

    At a fundamental level, fraudsters try to erase the boundary between what’s real and what’s fake.

    Until relatively recently, that was a theoretical risk.

    It wasn’t so long ago that I believed I was immune to being fooled online.

    That is, until I saw a viral picture of the Pope in a coat.

    Not just any coat.

    A fashionable puffer jacket that wouldn’t look out of place on the runway in Paris.

    One that my wife assured me was ‘on trend’.

    I quickly forgot about it.

    That is, until I learned that that image wasn’t actually of the Pope at all.

    It was created on Midjourney. Using AI.

    On the one hand it was a harmless gag, Pope Francis had never looked better.

    On the other hand, it left me deeply uneasy.

    If someone so instantly recognisable as the Holy Father could be wholly faked, what about the rest of us?

    The recent Slovakian elections showed us how this could work in practice.

    Deepfake audio was released in the run up to polling day.

    It purported to show a prominent politician discussing how to rig the vote.

    The clip was heard by hundreds of thousands of individuals.

    Who knows how many votes it changed – or how many were convinced not to vote at all.

    This is of course an example of a very specific type of fraud.

    But all fraudsters blur the boundary between fact and fiction.

    They warp the nature of reality.

    It does not take a massive leap of imagination to see the implications of that in the fraud space.

    Thankfully, relatively few AI-powered scams have come to light so far.

    However, the ones that have highlight the potential of AI to be used by criminals to defraud people of their hard-earned cash.

    The risks to citizens, businesses and our collective security are clear.

    A few lines of code can act like Miracle Gro on crime, and the global cost of fraud is already estimated to be in the trillions.

    In the United Kingdom, fraud accounts for around 40% of all estimated crime.

    There’s an overlap with organised crime, terrorism and hostile activity from foreign states.

    It is in a very real sense a threat to our national security.

    But while there is undoubtedly a need to be proactive and vigilant, we need not despair.

    And the wealth of talent, insight and expertise I see in front of me here gives me hope.

    For the Government’s part, we are stepping up our counter-fraud efforts through the comprehensive strategy we published this summer and the work of Anthony Browne, my friend, who is the Anti-Fraud Champion.

    Fraud is a growing, transnational threat, and has become a key component of organised criminality and harm in our communities. So international co-operation is essential.

    That’s why the UK will host a summit in London next March to agree a co-ordinated action plan to reform the global system and respond to this growing threat.

    We expect Ministers, law enforcement and intelligence agencies to attend from around the world.

    The Online Safety Act which has completed its passage through Parliament and will require social media and search engine companies to take robust, proactive action to ensure users are not exposed to user-generated fraud or fraudulent advertising on their platforms.

    And we are working on an Online Fraud Charter with industry that includes innovative ways for the public and private sector to work together to protect the public, reduce fraud and support victims.

    This will build on the charters that are already agreed with the accountancy, banking, and telecommunications sectors to combat fraud, which have already contributed to a significant reduction in scam texts and a 13% fall in reported fraud in the last year.

    New technologies don’t just bring about risk.

    They create huge opportunities too.

    AI is no different.

    We know that the possibilities are vast, endless even.

    What’s more it’s essential.

    As the world grows more complex, only advanced intelligence systems can meet the task before us.

    We need the AI revolution to deliver services and supply chains in an ever more globalised world.

    I’m particularly interested in the question of how we can harness this new power in the public safety arena.

    As we will hear shortly, AI is already driving complex approaches to manage risk, protect from harm and fight criminality.

    There is a real-world benefit in combating fraud and scams, such as payment processing software that is stopping millions of scam texts from reaching potential victims.

    No doubt I’ve barely scratched the surface, and there’s lots more excellent work going on.

    What we absolutely have to do is break down any barriers that might exist between the different groups represented here this evening.

    The only people who benefit from a misaligned, inconsistent approach are criminals, so it’s critical that we work hand in glove, across sectors and borders.

    I want to come back to the point I started on.

    For me AI and the security it enables is an essential part of the State’s responsibility to keep us all safe.

    It’s not to increase our control.

    Not to keep people in a box.

    But to set people free.

    We cannot eliminate risk, but we can understand it.

    Using AI to map and measure today’s environment will ensure we do that.

    The pursuit of progress is essential to human experience.

    And the reality is that even if we wanted to, we cannot put the genie back in the bottle.

    That does not mean, though, that we simply sit back and what and see what happens.

    We can’t be passive in the face of this threat.

    So what I want us to be thinking about is how we move forward.

    Well, the way I see it there are three key questions that align to the aims of the AI Safety Summit:

    • The first, how do we build safe AI models that are resilient to criminal intent?
    • Second, as the vast majority of fraud starts online, how do we harness AI to ensure that harmful content is quickly identified and removed?
    • And lastly, what do governments need to be doing globally to balance progress and growth with safety and security?

    That’s far from an exhaustive list.

    But I think by addressing these core questions we can put ourselves on the right path.

    So, thank you once again for being here; thank you RUSI for hosting us, I hope you will find it a valuable exercise.

    And most of all I hope we can look back and say that today was a day when we took important steps forward in our shared mission to reduce the risks and seize the opportunities associated with AI. I remain hugely optimistic, but that optimism depends on the work we do today together.

  • Rishi Sunak – 2023 Speech on AI

    Rishi Sunak – 2023 Speech on AI

    The speech made by Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, at the Royal Society in London on 26 October 2023.

    I’m delighted to be here at the Royal Society, the place where the story of modern science has been written for centuries.

    Now, I’m unashamedly optimistic about the power of technology to make life better for everyone.

    So, the easy speech for me to give – the one in my heart I really want to give…

    …would be to tell you about the incredible opportunities before us.

    Just this morning, I was at Moorfields Eye Hospital.

    They’re using Artificial Intelligence to build a model that can look at a single picture of your eyes…

    …and not only diagnose blindness, but predict heart attacks, strokes, or Parkinson’s.

    And that’s just the beginning.

    I genuinely believe that technologies like AI will bring a transformation as far-reaching…

    …as the industrial revolution, the coming of electricity, or the birth of the internet.

    Now, as with every one of those waves of technology, AI will bring new knowledge…

    …new opportunities for economic growth, new advances in human capability…

    …and the chance to solve problems that we once thought beyond us.

    But like those waves, it also brings new dangers and new fears.

    So, the responsible thing for me to do – the right speech for me to make – is to address those fears head on…

    …giving you the peace of mind that we will keep you safe…

    …while making sure you and your children have all the opportunities for a better future that AI can bring.

    Now, doing the right thing, not the easy thing, means being honest with people about the risks from these technologies.

    So, I won’t hide them from you.

    That’s why today, for the first time, we’ve taken the highly unusual step…

    …of publishing our analysis on the risks of AI…

    …including an assessment by the UK intelligence communities.

    These reports provide a stark warning.

    Get this wrong, and AI could make it easier to build chemical or biological weapons.

    Terrorist groups could use AI to spread fear and destruction on an even greater scale.

    Criminals could exploit AI for cyber-attacks, disinformation, fraud, or even child sexual abuse.

    And in the most unlikely but extreme cases, there is even the risk that humanity could lose control of AI completely…

    …through the kind of AI sometimes referred to as ‘super intelligence’.

    Indeed, to quote the statement made earlier this year by hundreds of the world’s leading AI experts:

    “Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war”.

    Now, I want to be completely clear:

    This is not a risk that people need to be losing sleep over right now.

    I don’t want to be alarmist.

    And there is a real debate about this – some experts think it will never happen at all.

    But however uncertain and unlikely these risks are, if they did manifest themselves, the consequences would be incredibly serious.

    And when so many of the biggest developers of this technology themselves warn of these risks…

    …leaders have a responsibility to take them seriously, and to act.

    And that is what I am doing today – in three specific ways.

    First, keeping you safe.

    Right now, the only people testing the safety of AI…

    …are the very organisations developing it.

    Even they don’t always fully understand what their models could become capable of.

    And there are incentives in part, to compete to build the best models, quickest.

    So, we should not rely on them marking their own homework, as many of those working on this would agree.

    Not least because only governments can properly assess the risks to national security.

    And only nation states have the power and legitimacy to keep their people safe.

    The UK’s answer is not to rush to regulate.

    This is a point of principle – we believe in innovation, it’s a hallmark of the British economy…

    …so we will always have a presumption to encourage it, not stifle it.

    And in any case, how can we write laws that make sense for something we don’t yet fully understand?

    So, instead, we’re building world-leading capability to understand and evaluate the safety of AI models within government.

    To do that, we’ve already invested £100m in a new taskforce…

    …more funding for AI safety than any other country in the world.

    And we’ve recruited some of the most respected and knowledgeable figures in the world of AI.

    So, I’m completely confident in telling you the UK is doing far more than other countries to keep you safe.

    And because of this – because of the unique steps we’ve already taken – we’re able to go even further today.

    I can announce that we will establish the world’s first AI Safety Institute – right here in the UK.

    It will advance the world’s knowledge of AI safety.

    And it will carefully examine, evaluate, and test new types of AI…

    …so that we understand what each new model is capable of…

    …exploring all the risks, from social harms like bias and misinformation, through to the most extreme risks of all.

    The British people should have peace of mind that we’re developing the most advanced protections for AI of any country in the world.

    Doing what’s right and what’s necessary to keep you safe.

    But AI does not respect borders.

    So we cannot do this alone.

    The second part of our plan is to host the world’s first ever Global AI Safety Summit next week, at Bletchley Park – the iconic home of computer science.

    We’re bringing together the world’s leading representatives…

    …from Civil Society…

    …to the companies pioneering AI…

    …and the countries most advanced in using it.

    And yes – we’ve invited China.

    I know there are some who will say they should have been excluded.

    But there can be no serious strategy for AI without at least trying to engage all of the world’s leading AI powers.

    That might not have been the easy thing to do, but it was the right thing to do.

    So, what do we hope to achieve at next week’s Summit?

    Right now, we don’t have a shared understanding of the risks that we face.

    And without that, we cannot hope to work together to address them.

    That’s why we will push hard to agree the first ever international statement about the nature of these risks.

    Yet AI is developing at breath taking speed.

    Every new wave will become more advanced, better trained, with better chips, and more computing power.

    So we need to make sure that as the risks evolve, so does our shared understanding.

    I believe we should take inspiration from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change…

    …which was set up to reach an international scientific consensus.

    So, next week, I will propose that we establish a truly global expert panel…

    …nominated by the countries and organisations attending …

    …to publish a State of AI Science report.

    Of course, our efforts also depend on collaboration with the AI companies themselves.

    Uniquely in the world, those companies have already trusted the UK with privileged access to their models.

    That’s why the UK is so well-placed to create the world’s first Safety Institute.

    And at next week’s Summit I will work together with the companies and countries to deepen our partnerships.

    My vision, and our ultimate goal, should be to work towards a more international approach to safety…

    …where we collaborate with partners to ensure AI systems are safe before they are released.

    And so to support this, we will make the work of our Safety Institute available to the world.

    That’s the right thing to do morally, in keeping with the UK’s historic role on the international stage.

    And it’s also the right thing economically, for families and businesses up and down the country.

    Because the future of AI is safe AI.

    And by making the UK a global leader in safe AI, we will attract even more of the new jobs and investment that will come from this new wave of technology.

    Just think for a moment about what that will mean for our country.

    The growth it will catalyse, the jobs it will create, the change it can deliver –for the better.

    And that’s the third part of our plan – to make sure that everyone in our country can benefit from the opportunities of AI.

    We’ve already got strong foundations.

    Third in the world for tech, behind only the US and China.

    The best place in Europe to raise capital.

    All of the leading AI companies – choosing the UK as their European headquarters.

    The most pro-investment tax regime…

    The most pro-entrepreneur visa regime, to attract the world’s top talent…

    …and the education reforms to give our own young people the skills to succeed.

    And we’re going to make it even easier for ambitious people with big ideas to start, grow, and compete in the world of AI.

    That’s not just about having the technical skills, but the raw computing power.

    That’s why we’re investing almost a billion pounds in a supercomputer thousands of times faster than the one you have at home.

    And it’s why we’re investing £2.5bn in quantum computers, which can be exponentially quicker than those computers still.

    To understand this, consider how Google’s Sycamore quantum computer…

    …can solve a maths problem in 200 seconds, that would take the world’s fastest supercomputer 10,000 years.

    And as we invest more in our computing power, we’ll make it available for researchers and businesses, as well as government…

    …so that when the best entrepreneurs in the world think about where they want to start and scale their AI businesses, they choose the UK.

    And finally, we must target our scientific efforts towards what I think of as AI for good.

    Right across the western world, we’re searching for answers to the question of how we can improve and increase our productivity.

    Because that’s the only way over the long-term to grow our economy and raise people’s living standards.

    And in a million different ways, across every aspect of our lives, AI can be that answer.

    In the public sector, we’re clamping down on benefit fraudsters…

    …and using AI as a co-pilot to help clear backlogs and radically speed up paperwork.

    Just take for example, the task of producing bundles for a benefits tribunal.

    Before, a week’s work could produce around 11.

    Now – that takes less than an hour.

    And just imagine the benefits of that rolled out across the whole of government.

    In the private sector, start-ups like Robin AI are revolutionising the legal profession…

    …writing contracts in minutes, saving businesses and customers time and money.

    London-based Wayve is using sophisticated AI software to create a new generation of electric, self-driving cars.

    But more than all of this – AI can help us solve some of the greatest social challenges of our time.

    It can help us finally achieve the promise of nuclear fusion, providing abundant, cheap, clean energy with virtually no emissions.

    It can help us solve world hunger, by making food cheaper and easier to grow…

    …and preventing crop failures by accurately predicting when to plant, harvest or water your crops.

    And AI could help find novel dementia treatments or develop vaccines for cancer.

    That’s why today we’re investing a further £100m to accelerate the use of AI…

    …on the most transformational breakthroughs in treatments for previously incurable diseases.

    Now I believe nothing in our foreseeable future will be more transformative for our economy, our society, and all our lives, than this technology.

    But in this moment, it is also one of the greatest tests of leadership we face.

    It would be easy to bury our heads in the sand and hope it’ll turn out alright in the end.

    To decide it’s all too difficult, or the risks of political failure are too great.

    To put short-term demands ahead of the long-term interest of the country.

    But I won’t do that.

    I will do the right thing, not the easy thing.

    I will always be honest with you about the risks.

    And you can trust me to make the right long-term decisions…

    …giving you the peace of mind that we will keep you safe…

    …while making sure you and your children have all the opportunities for a better future that AI can bring.

    I feel an extraordinary sense of purpose.

    When I think about why I came into politics…

    Frankly, why almost anyone came into politics…

    It’s because we want to make life better for people…

    …to give our children and grandchildren a better future.

    And we strive, hour after hour, policy after policy, just trying to make a difference.

    And yet, if harnessed in the right way, the power and possibility of this technology…

    …could dwarf anything any of us have achieved in a generation.

    And that’s why I make no apology for being pro-technology.

    It’s why I want to seize every opportunity for our country to benefit in the way I’m so convinced that it can.

    And it’s why I believe we can and should, look to the future with optimism and hope.

    Thank you.

  • Michelle Donelan – 2023 Speech at Onward on the Future of AI

    Michelle Donelan – 2023 Speech at Onward on the Future of AI

    The speech made by Michelle Donelan, the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, on 24 October 2023.

    Firstly let me say a massive thank you to Onward.

    I said when I first launched this new and exciting Department that people could expect to see a constant drumbeat of action from my officials, from my ministers and my entire team…

    What I didn’t expect was for Onward to take that challenge on too!

    From your brilliant report on generative AI earlier this year, to Allan Nixon’s Wired for Success Report which gave us insights into DSIT that illumined Whitehall.

    And I hear through the grapevine that Onward are publishing another AI-focused report in the coming weeks, so I look forward to reading that.

    It is safe to say that the world is now wide awake to the opportunities and the challenges posed by artificial intelligence.

    In the last 3 years alone, MPs have mentioned Artificial Intelligence more times in the House of Commons than they did in the entire 30 years before that.

    And when I stood up to give my first speech as the Secretary of State for the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, I made it clear that we were going to be different and we were going to do things differently.

    So, when it comes to AI, I think it is especially important because we cannot afford for DSIT to be a normal ‘business as usual’ Whitehall department.

    Nor can we deliver extraordinary things without more extraordinary people in our Departmental team.

    We need to be as agile, innovative and as accessible just like the entrepreneurs and businesses and researchers that we represent.

    And I am pleased to report that we have done exactly that.

    Over a matter of months we have added world-renowned AI experts to our Department and Taskforce…

    From renowned AI professors like David Krueger and Yarin Gal…

    To one of the Godfathers of AI, Yoshua Bengio….

    With our skills, Frontier AI Taskforce and our global AI Safety Summit, it is clear that the UK is perfectly placed to lead the international charge on seizing the opportunities of AI whilst gripping the risks.

    However, today I want to get beyond the statistics and go deeper into the philosophy that is driving our approach to AI.

    Many of you will have heard me talk about AI safety being the UK’s priority, and how we can only truly utilise the extraordinary benefits AI has to offer once we have tackled some of the safety challenges associated with the frontier.

    To some this may sound overcautious, or that we are being driven by fear of the risks rather than optimism about the opportunities. But actually I think it is rather about the opportunities that we are focusing on.

    Today, I want to smash these myths head on.

    Here at Onward, I want to set out how the UK’s approach to safety and security in AI will make it the best place in the world for new AI companies to not only grow but locate here.

    Safety and security are key to unlocking innovation.

    The country which tackles key AI safety risks  first will be the first to fully take advantage of the huge potential that AI has to provide.

    That is why the UK is putting more investment into these questions right now than any other country in the world.

    Questions like “how do we prevent misuse of Frontier AI by malicious actors?”

    And “how do we ensure we don’t lose human control and oversight of this new technology?”

    And how can we protect our society including our democratic system.

    Think of how air travel – once considered a dangerous new technology by many – is now one of the safest and most beneficial technologies in human history.

    We got there by working with countries across the world to make sure we have the right safety mechanisms in place –  and now we all reap the benefits of flying safely.

    Safety is absolutely critical to unlocking adoption across our economy.

    Boosting consumer confidence is what will make the difference between a country taking a few years to adopt new technology into their lives, or a few decades.

    I want to make sure the UK is at the forefront of reaping the benefits of this transformative technology.

    Our approach to AI has been commended for being agile, open and innovative.  But we need more research to guide our approach.

    In many cases, we simply don’t understand the risks in enough detail or certainty right now because this an emerging technology that is developing quicker than any other technology in human history.

    It took mankind just over a lifetime to go from the horse and cart to the space race.

    Yet in the last four years large language models have gone from barely being able to write a coherent sentence to now being able to pass the bar exam and medical exams and who knows what large language models have are set to hold.

    So the pace of development is fast and unpredictable which means our focus needs to be on understanding the risks.

    And in life I do think its important to understand the problem before rushing to solutions. And with AI this should be no different.

    That is why we established the Frontier AI Taskforce and have appointed a world-leading research team to turbo-charge our understanding of frontier AI with expert insights.

    The Taskforce is already making rapid progress, forging partnerships with industry and developing innovative approaches to addressing the risks of AI and harnessing its benefits.

    The Global AI Safety Summit is also an opportunity to build that understanding, share learnings and establish a network globally to work together to ensure our research can keep up with this transformative emerging technology.

    Indeed, one of the key objectives of the Summit is to form an agreement on what the key risks actually are.

    By bringing countries, leading tech organisations, academia and civil society together, the UK will lead the international conversation on frontier AI.

    The global nature of AI means that international concerted action is absolutely critical. AI doesn’t stop at geographical boundaries and nor should our approach.

    But of course, we do also need to make sure we have the right domestic approach in place to drive safe, responsible AI innovation.

    Earlier this year we set out a principles-based approach through the AI Regulation White Paper.

    Our approach is agile, targeted and sector-specific.

    We here in the UK understand that AI use cases are drastically different across different sectors.

    A one size fits all system that treats agri-tech the same way as military drones because they both use AI is unreasonable and undeliverable.

    By empowering existing regulators to regulate AI in their own sectors where they have their own expertise, we have created the most tailored and responsive regulatory regime anywhere in the world.

    We have also supported different sectors with a Central risk function – horizon scanning.

    Later this year, we will publish a full response to our White Paper – showing how our approach is keeping pace with this transformative technology.

    So, what does this all mean for small businesses?

    The regulatory approach set out in the White Paper is specifically designed to be flexible, support innovation and ensure that small, new and challenger AI companies can grow and succeed here in the UK.

    And indeed, we are already taking steps to deliver on those aims by working with the Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum to pilot a new advisory service for AI and digital innovators so companies can bring their products more quickly and safely to market.

    We want the UK to remain one of the most nimble and innovative places in the world for AI companies to grow.

    That is why it is right to reaffirm our commitment to our principles-based approach to regulation whilst also taking bold steps to address risks at the frontier,

    investing in world-class research capabilities and working closely with industry and civil society to make sure our AI governance approach keeps pace.

    Our proportionate and targeted approach will enable us to foster innovation and encourage companies to grow to catch up with the frontier – because we are not pulling up the drawbridge –in fact what we want to do is give consumers and the public confidence to boost adoption and it will ensure we can seize the opportunities safely.

    Far from a race to the bottom, the key AI developers across the world and here in the UK are telling me they are looking for countries where they will have certainty, clarity and support when it comes to building and deploying AI safely.

    They want a mature, considered and agile approach to AI that maximises the potential for innovation by mitigating the risks.

    They want to open up in countries where consumers are open-minded and excited about using their AI tools to improve their lives, which is why with the global AI Safety Summit, we are not only talking about risks, but also talking about opportunities for the benefit of mankind.

    And the proof is in the pudding Open AI, Anthropic have opened their international offices here.

    I want the UK people to use AI with the same confidence and lack of fear as we do when we book an airplane ticket.

    And I want AI companies to know that the UK is the most up-to-date, agile and economically rewarding place in the world to build their business in.

    So, to all the smaller AI companies out there, let me send this message out to you today: the UK is and will remain the most agile and innovative place for you to develop your business.

    Safety at the frontier means prosperity across the sector.

    We will grip the risks so that we can seize the opportunities.

    Thank you.

  • Jeremy Quin – 2023 Speech on Skills, Efficiency and Technology in the Civil Service

    Jeremy Quin – 2023 Speech on Skills, Efficiency and Technology in the Civil Service

    The speech made by Jeremy Quin, the Minister for the Cabinet Office, at Old Queen Street in Westminster, London on 19 July 2023.

    I am pleased to announce that a total of £4.4 billion savings were delivered by the central government functions in the financial year 2021/22.  These are split between  audited cashable (£3.4 billion) and non-cashable (£1 billion).  The Cabinet Office has now published this on GOV.UK.

    This wasn’t a one-off event. In the year prior to that, the central government Function Teams also delivered £3.4 billion worth of audited savings. This means around £8bn of cashable and non-cashable savings were delivered in the last 2 years.  We have achieved this by thinking differently and driving success.

    The components of these savings vary year in year out – this year for example over £1 billion of savings were delivered by identifying and correcting fraudulently claimed Universal Credit (UC).  This is an area post our establishment of the Public Sector Fraud Authority which is likely to grow further.

    I am delighted that to take this work further the Treasury are releasing today a Government Efficiency Framework, ensuring consistent reporting of efficiencies across the whole of Government and reporting processes to track delivery and drive continuous improvement.

    Another step along the remorseless but critical path of delivering improved productivity across the civil service.

    Our modernisation work is not limited to the services delivered by central government.

    UK’s public bodies which play a vital role in delivery but whose independence of action can risk them becoming divorced from a culture of continuing improvement are subject to reviews and improvement.

    To date, 71 of the initial 125 public body reviews have been launched covering over 90% of ALB expenditure.

    Most of the largest ALBs will be reviewed in the next 18 months, benefitting from experienced teams and the active support of ALB boards:  completed reviews have recommended actions to improve governance, capability and use of resources to deliver the best possible value for the taxpayer.

    REFORMING PROCUREMENT

    As a Government we provide services. We spend, across the Public Sector, £300bn annually on procurement, and we deliver enhancements to our national infrastructure.

    After a substantial effort we are now within weeks of the Procurement Bill clearing both houses.  In a rare example of Government adopting the refreshing motto of “Keep it Simple Stupid” it cuts down the 350 different procurement regulations founded on EU Procurement, to create one simple rulebook.

    It will help set the framework of an ever more outcomes-based approach to procurement so that we can buy goods and services: don’t tell the market exactly how to build a bridge, engage with them on how we can best cross the water.  You may be amazed by what you discover.

    STRONGER PROJECT MANAGEMENT FOR BETTER SERVICES

    On which subject we know that better infrastructure delivers better productivity.

    Over the last two years the government’s major projects portfolio has doubled in size to oversee nearly 250 programmes, with a whole life cost of nearly £800bn.

    Bringing more projects into the central portfolio has created better central oversight and investment, enabling more transparency and closer scrutiny. 89% of those projects now have a green or amber delivery confidence, up from 64% in 2020.

    So, this rigorous focus on efficiency, on improving procurement and better project management is delivering the foundation to improve our productivity and enhance our public services.

    When Francis introduced the functions it amounted to a revolutionary step – the Victorian departmental silo model being complimented by a lattice of cross-departmental experts with which most in the commercial sector will be familiar.  12 years on they continue to flourish, they continue to deliver and the GEF will make their job easier and their results even more transparent.

    BUILDING A MODERN CIVIL SERVICE: PLACES, PEOPLE, PROCESS AND PROGRAMME ASSESSMENT

    Functions delivering is but one aspect of the Declaration to which we as ministers and civil servants are committed.

    To continue the process of reform we need to be open to the views and experiences of those outside the public sector who recognise the extraordinary opportunities it provides and want to add their talents to the many we employ.

    We need to ensure that they are supported in a modern workplace environment making the most of the myriad opportunities of data and AI.

    And we need to help them to focus their time and their energy on what works.

    First on People.

    For too long, policy making and the leadership of the Civil Service has been too London-centric.  That’s why we committed to relocating 22,000 Civil Service roles out of London by 2030.

    This year we have crossed a major milestone having relocated over 12,000 roles outside of London and the South East…

    That is more than half of our total commitment in just the first three years of the programme and more than 75% of our ambition to relocate 15,000 roles by 2025.

    We’re also well on our way to the target of 50% UK based SCS outside London, with 30% now based outside the capital.

    We’ve launched multiple departmental second headquarters including Cabinet Office’s second headquarters in Glasgow.  The Cabinet Office is not alone in looking to Scotland – nearly 20% of the roles moved out of London have been relocated to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, with additional government hubs in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast.

    We have also launched a major policy campus in Sheffield, creating the largest centre of policy making outside London.

    The benefits of this to levelling up, to VFM and to strengthening our Union are important, obvious and are rightly regularly praised.

    I want however to be selfish – I see the benefits in simple terms – the opportunity it provides to recruit brilliant civil servants – many of whom I have met in Scotland and Wales, the North and South West into our teams.

    I believe we will find further scope to enhance Places for Growth – including by focussing on our Arms Length bodies.

    But we need to do more beyond PfG to broaden our base of talent.

    Above all we need to be an employer that welcomes new blood at every stage of someone’s career.

    Just 1 in 5 new entrants to the Senior Civil Service are currently external. I want to ensure that every potential recruit who wants to bring their expertise to bear in the public interest can feel able to apply to do so.  And I want us to be able to harness that talent where we know it will add value.

    That’s why last year we cemented a much stronger requirement for all Senior Civil Service roles to be advertised externally, a move recommended by Policy Exchange.

    It’s no longer possible to hold an internal recruitment competition for a senior civil servant role without explicit Ministerial approval.

    Whilst this change is already making a difference, we can and should do more.

    It is not enough simply to advertise a job externally..

    Currently, the ‘street to seat’ recruitment process can take as long as 80 days, if not longer and that’s before vetting…

    If we are fishing in a competitive pool for talent, trying to persuade those with much to give to turn their back on other opportunities and follow the rewarding path of public service, we need to get real about how we perform as recruiters.

    We must ensure that every aspect of civil service recruitment, from how we advertise, to how we recognise external expertise, to how we select and onboard recruits, supports good candidates.

    So, we are asking departments and professions to trial alternative recruitment approaches.

    They will experiment with running recruitment campaigns with simplified job adverts, ridding them of Whitehall speak…

    And they will speed up recruitment, with a focus on cutting the bureaucracy that puts off or times out brilliant candidates…

    And to help speed up onboarding,  we are improving our vetting system. UK Security Vetting are recruiting new staff and improving processes and systems to bring KPIs up to the levels we need to see. We are determined to deliver a radical overhaul of policy, process and systems.

    EMBRACING DIGITAL AND AI

    Growing our talent pool is great but our civil servants need the tools to finish the job.  A revolution is underway in digital and AI and our civil servants must be part of it: taxpayers will, rightly, demand the same ease of access to services and support that will become second nature in the private sector.

    We need to be better at utilising the digital talent we already have within the Civil Service and in stressing its importance.

    This September, our government-wide initiative ‘One Big Thing’ will be launched:. The focus for 2023 is data-upskilling.  It will engage every single civil servant – that’s half a million training days on data this autumn. This shows our determination to build knowledge and deliver.

    Over the next two years we are rolling out two new digital platforms to enable us to understand, develop and utilise the skills of our workforce and help staff move more easily between departments.

    The Government Skills Campus will provide a single platform across Government with better access to the learning civil servants need. It will use skills data to intelligently drive the right content to learners and provide the skills data needed to inform workforce planning.

    Another new platform will then enable all civil servants to move from one department to another – at pace and without friction. Not only will this save money – approximately £100m over the next 5 years – it means it will be easier to move the people with the right skills and experience to the right roles in government.  Placing colleagues in more satisfying roles and gleaning the benefits of targeted experience.

    Digital and data innovations like these are the defining tools of the 21st Century but they can only be effective when senior leaders understand them.  I am delighted that we are on track to exceed our ambition for 50% of Fast Stream hires for 2023 to have a STEM subject background.  But we cannot wait decades as they progress….

    Through the Digital Excellence Programme we will be equipping government leaders with these skills, starting with 3,000 senior leaders this year.

    We can offer digital technicians the most extraordinary opportunities to put their talents to the test in delivering solutions which matter to people day in day out.  I know how competitive that talent pool is but what better way to invest in your staff than to give them the opportunity of taking on some of the most fascinating challenges.

    To enhance our secondment programme we are developing a specific Digital Secondments pilot with our digital team in the Central Digital and Data Office.

    I know that there are people from the best tech firms in the country who believe in public service…

    Who want to help with the biggest challenges facing society today…

    So we will create a pathway for them to join the civil service through a secondment and empower them to drive real tangible change….

    DRIVING IMPROVEMENTS IN DIGITAL PROCESS

    We must attract and retain the best in digital talent so that we can harness the power of digital, data and technology in order to deliver most efficiently and effectively for the public.

    Our groundbreaking Roadmap for Digital and Data, encompasses 21 ambitious commitments to be achieved by 2025.

    Among these commitments, we have pledged to elevate 50 of the government’s top services to a “Great” standard and we are introducing One Login, a vital new system that will allow citizens to access all central Government services effortlessly using a single account.

    We need to ensure that GOV.UK, with over 1m visits a day and over 29bn page views since 2012 provides a service equal what we would expect to see in the public service.

    That’s why we’ve established a team to lead on digital service transformation across government. This team identified the opportunities, blockers and support to improve services.

    That’s also why 32 organisations in government have adopted the same pay framework to drive recruitment and retention of digital professionals, saving taxpayer money by reducing reliance on contractors and managed services.

    Recent months have seen huge developments in Artificial Intelligence technology, presenting, if developed appropriately, clear opportunities for government. Our ambition is to use AI confidently and responsibly, where it matters most, to improve public services and boost productivity.

    Our central team of digital and technology experts is creating a practical framework to put this technology to work across the civil service, solving problems of privacy, ethics and security, and bringing insights and best practice from industry.

    I am excited to announce that following last year’s pilot the incubator for Automation and Innovation, known as i.AI, will become a permanent civil service team focussed on some of our most important and intractable challenges.

    And right at the heart of government, the Number 10 Innovation Fellowships program is bringing in AI experts from industry and academia to help solve problems in public service delivery using AI and automation.

    We are already creating a Data Marketplace to break down barriers to sharing data inside government. But we also know the potential for government data to drive value and innovation in the economy. Therefore, as recommended by the Vallance review, our ambition is to make the marketplace available to third parties outside government, such as businesses and researchers.  By 2025 our aim is to do just that.

    We will launch and scale a cross government digital apprenticeship programme to support recruitment and development of 500 new DDaT professionals this financial year.

    STRONGER ASSESSMENT OF PUBLIC PROGRAMMES

    It’s an old adage that the only mistake you can make is by not learning from it…

    That is why since the Declaration on Government Reform we established the Evaluation Task Force to improve Government programme evaluation:   to better inform decisions on whether programmes should be continued, expanded, modified or stopped.

    I learned, to my exasperation as Minister for Defence procurement, that while I was desperately securing cash to back brilliant innovative ideas, without rigorous Ministerial testing others could quietly languish long after it became apparent they weren’t fit for purpose.

    In innovation a failure is when the project is allowed to continue when all hope is lost – fail fast, reinvest.

    The same must be true of policy.

    We need evaluation baked in from the outset in everything we do.

    Yes this can identify where policy, whisper it not, doesn’t deliver. It can happen.  Where it does, let’s act not hide.  A productive public sector is not one which is too shy to accept that not everything works.  In the commercial world it’s known, recognised, embraced.  We need to lose our hang ups.

    But we can and must learn from our successes

    The DLUHC supporting families evaluation showed not only the impact of the policy in reducing adult and juvenile custodial sentences, but was robust enough to know that for every pound we spent on the programme, it delivered £2.28 of economic benefits and £1.52 of financial benefits.

    The Task Force has provided advice on 211 evaluations across government, covering £115bn of spending.

    On the basis that only idiots learn from their own mistakes, the wise from other peoples’….

    I am delighted to announce that the Evaluation Task Force is launching the Evaluation Registry, which will provide, for the first time, a single online focus for evaluations across government.

    The Evaluation Registry has been built from the ground-up to be best-in-class in driving evidence based policy making. When it launches, it will be one of the biggest stores of information on social policy evaluations in the world, containing over 2000 evaluations from the outset.

    It will be available to all government departments this year and in the future supported by funds worth over £50m for evaluations to generate new evidence in critical areas of policy making.

    CONCLUSION: BRILLIANT PUBLIC SERVICE

    So let’s get back to our fictional Sir Arnold.

    Were he to return to our screens today he would I hope be disquieted by the notion that a new recruit may start their career, progress their career and end their career as a Permanent Secretary without necessarily ever working within 10 miles of Peter Jones.

    What’s more, talent is not only arriving directly into the upper echelons of the SCS, it’s being actively pursued and welcomed.

    We are embracing the opportunities of digital and AI and what that will mean for making us more efficient and improving the services we deliver.

  • Chloe Smith – 2023 Speech at London Tech Week

    Chloe Smith – 2023 Speech at London Tech Week

    The speech made by Chloe Smith, the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, at London Tech Week on 14 June 2023.

    Thank you for that warm introduction, Alex [Webb].

    And a big thanks to London Tech Week, not just for inviting me to join you today, but for hosting another outstanding event.

    One that’s convened the best and brightest of the global tech sector, that’s showcased the very cutting-edge of British innovation, design and technology, and that’s brought together many of the world’s greatest thinkers to debate some of the most pressing questions of our digital age.

    Founders Forum, Informa, London & Partners and Tech London Advocates all deserve credit for ensuring that this London Tech Week, now in its tenth year, has sent the strongest of signals – that when it comes to tech, the UK is fully open for business.

    I’ve certainly seen that first-hand in the events I’ve been part of this week.

    Whether it’s the relaunch of Silicon Valley Bank UK as HSBC Innovation Banking and the multi-million-pound investment it’s feeding into our home-grown Fintech, Life Sciences and Consumer businesses so they can scale up and grow.

    Or in our announcement of a new MoU between Australia and the UK on diversifying telecoms. An agreement that will boost the roll out of more 5g networks and safe, secure, superfast broadband to communities even in the most far-flung of communities.

    This week saw the announcement of our Smart Infrastructure Pilots Programme, helping councils in different parts of the country test new smart lamp posts that extend mobile coverage and increase connectivity for more homes and businesses than ever before.

    My colleague Oliver Dowden and I also hosted over 80 Indo-Pacific business leaders from unicorns and scale-ups at the London Stock Exchange for the market close earlier this week. An invaluable opportunity to strengthen a long-standing trading relationship worth over 250 billion dollars and growing.

    The UK Tech Sector’s Success

    Everyone here knows that in recent years, the UK has become one of the most competitive countries in the world for tech.

    We have the largest tech sector in Europe and the third largest in the world behind the US and China.

    Last year, we became just the third country to date with a tech sector valued at $1trillion.

    And it’s fair to say that when it comes to AI, Fintech and Bio-tech, the UK is consistently punching well above its weight, having created more billion dollar ‘Unicorn’ tech start-ups than Germany, France and Sweden combined.

    Our unique combination of world class talent, R&D capability, and pro-enterprise regulation means the UK is the best place anywhere in the world in which to start and grow a tech business.

    Growing the economy

    It’s these businesses which are making people’s lives better, spurring growth and creating employment opportunities that will unlock the full potential of communities right across the UK.

    Businesses such as Darktrace, who are using artificial intelligence to protect people against even the most sophisticated cyber-attacks…

    Companies like Quantinuum, who are harnessing the immense power of quantum technologies to build machines that eclipse conventional computers.

    Or semiconductor and software designers like Arm, in Cambridge. Pioneers in modern engineering and machine learning, whose CPUs are used in virtually all modern smartphones.

    So, we’ve come a long way together.

    But the Government is not complacent about what’s required to maintain the UK’s pole position in the global tech race.

    We know that there has to be a steady pipeline of investment over the coming years and that’s exactly what we’re providing.

    With £370 million of funding going towards five transformative technologies that are front and centre of the 21st century tech revolution: Quantum, AI, Bioengineering, Telecoms and Semiconductors.

    Investment that will bring profound benefits to our society in converting household waste into biofuels, in developing the next generation of green, self-driving cars and enhancing road safety, in new gene editing technologies to personalise medicine and support the early detection of diseases.

    Start-up businesses are being supported too through our £12 million Digital Growth Grant -run through Barclays Eagle Labs.

    Funding for specialised support to accelerate the growth of at least 22,000 UK tech startups through mentoring sessions, market research and insights, and guidance for budding tech entrepreneurs.

    We’re also fulfilling our commitment to spend £20 billion per annum in R&D by 2024/25 – with every £1 of public expenditure leveraging double the amount of private investment.

    And we’re keeping our promise to level up all parts of our United Kingdom by increasing public investment outside the greater South East by over a third. It means that cities like Newcastle which are hotbeds for tech start-ups right now can share in the UK’s success too.

    But you and I know that investment alone, however great, is no guarantee of success.

    That’s why, back in March, my department’s published its Science and Technology Framework – a bold 10-point plan to keep the UK at the forefront of global science and technology this decade.

    It’s a framework to ensure that researchers have access to the best physical and digital infrastructure that we leverage our post-Brexit freedoms to pursue pro-business regulation.

    And that we continue to showcase the UK’s towering science and tech strengths both here at home and abroad.

    It’s a Framework which recognises that innovation and technology are our future and are key to unlocking our long-term prosperity.

    We recognise, too, that in order for the UK to stay ahead of the pack, we need to develop a whole tech ‘ecosystem’ supported by smarter regulation, a greater focus on skills and training, and long-term industry-backed strategies.

    And I’m going to say more about what those ambitions look like in turn.

    Regulation

    When it comes to the regulatory environment, we said from the get-go that we wanted to make the UK a competitive, fair and open market for the tech industry.

    And we believe our Digital Markets Competition and Consumers Bill is helping us make that vision a reality by creating a more dynamic digital economy.

    It will ensure that businesses which rely on the biggest, most powerful tech firms, including the news publishing sector, are treated justly and aren’t strong armed with unfair terms and unfair contracts.

    Smaller digital firms will also find it much easier to enter new markets, without being crowded out by the biggest firms.

    And we’ve taken a similar, common-sense approach to the regulation of Artificial Intelligence.

    Countries all over the world are thinking long and hard about how they should prepare for a technological change so fast and so significant that it could redefine the way we work and live our lives.

    In contemplating AI, we’ve always said that governments must play their part to ensure the guard rails are there for this technology to develop in a safe, transparent and fair way.

    And here in the UK, as the Prime Minister rightly asserted at the beginning of this week, our strategy on AI is to lead at home; to lead overseas; and to lead change in our public services as well.

    We’ve committed to holding the first major global summit on AI safety this Autumn to develop an international framework. It will help ensure this technology develops in a reliable, safe and secure way.

    That’s complemented by £100 million of start-up funding for our new Foundation Model Taskforce which the Prime Minister announced earlier this year. A taskforce responsible for accelerating the UK’s capability in rapidly emerging types of artificial intelligence so that we remain globally competitive.

    We’ve published our AI White Paper showing how we intend to identify and address risks but also create a regulatory environment which fosters innovation and growth.

    Instead of targeting specific technologies, it focuses on the context in which AI is deployed and enables us to take a balanced approach.

    We recognise that using a chatbot, for example, to summarise a long article presents very different risks to using the same technology to provide medical advice. The rules governing one will be markedly different to the other.

    And this flexibility runs throughout our White Paper with a commitment to work in close partnership with regulators and business on sensible, pragmatic rules.

    Indeed, there’s still time for businesses and the public to join the debate on how we should best set the rules for regulating AI.

    Our consultation closes [next Wednesday] and I would encourage anyone with an interest in helping us shape the regulatory environment for this technology to submit their responses.

    Skills and talent

    So, creating the right conditions for our tech industry to freely innovate is vital.

    But so is ensuring the sector has access to the right talent and skills.

    I want the next generation to be equipped with everything they need to compete and thrive in the global economy.

    AI Scholarships

    That’s one of the reasons why we set up the Digital Skills Council last year, to consult the views of industry leaders. And to encourage investment in employer-led initiatives focused on upskilling and digital apprenticeships.

    That’s accompanied by a £30 million package to support a new generation of AI talent through scholarships, each worth £10,000 so that more young people can become masters in the technologies of tomorrow.

    This funding supports conversion courses for a diverse group of non-STEM students, allowing them to gain an MA in Artificial Intelligence and data science.

    UKRI Announcements

    And that’s not the only way we’re driving forward big improvements in hands-on training and education.

    Building on the Prime Minister’s announcement earlier this week of two new Turing AI World Leading Fellowships, my department is today announcing a £50 million package with UK Research and Innovation – funding for 42 new projects to explore the acceleration of responsible AI and machine learning.

    We’re backing a consortium led by the University of Southampton, spanning the whole of the UK, to create an international research and innovation ecosystem for responsible and trustworthy AI.

    And finally, we’re green-lighting a whole host of new UKRI projects for AI technologies that will help us reach our ambitious net zero targets.

    Projects to help decarbonise our transport systems, integrating renewable energy sources like wind power to make our farms and our rural communities more self-sufficient and kinder to the environment.

    Projects that will see a massive acceleration of energy efficient CO2 capture, especially in our new freeports and green freeports on the Scottish coast.

    And projects that will develop AI solutions to improve our country’s resilience against flooding and severe weather, all while hastening our journey to Net Zero.

    Research Ventures Catalyst

    We want to continue diversifying how cutting-edge science is funded too.

    With that in mind, I am delighted to announce that my department will shortly launch an open call for proposals to pilot new collaborative approaches for performing science in the UK.

    Backed by up to £50 million of government funding to drive investment and partnership with industry and the third sector, we want to catalyse new ideas and new ways of working with the potential to deliver transformational breakthroughs.

    We want to fund ideas that aren’t being adequately addressed elsewhere in the UK research landscape.

    I encourage researchers and innovators across all fields to consider applying when our call for proposals opens in a few weeks.

    Enabling core technologies

    With the right investment, the right regulation, the right skills and talent, I believe the UK is primed for a new era of innovation and growth.

    But to really shoot for the stars, we also need to do something else – we need to strategize for the long term.

    We need to consult industry experts and reflect fully on how we want to see some of our core technologies evolving not just over the next one or two years but over the next ten to fifteen years.

    Geospatial Strategy

    If we take geospatial technology, for example, we know that here again the UK is already a global trendsetter.

    We’re ranked second in the world for geospatial readiness and boast some of the best geospatial organisations going – Ordnance Survey, the Met Office and the UK Hydrographic Office, to say nothing of our brilliant research centres at universities like Edinburgh, Glasgow, Newcastle, Nottingham and Southampton.

    We want all organisations to take full advantage of the latest developments in location data and services including mobile apps.

    That’s why today I am announcing our new UK Geospatial Strategy 2030 to help us deliver on that objective and to secure the UK’s position as a geospatial world leader.

    The strategy includes three missions.

    The first is to embrace enabling technologies to accelerate geospatial innovation.

    Using anonymised population movement data and satellite imagery to help us design new homes, integrated transport systems, and improve the sustainability of cities so they better meet the needs of residents. It could also help our emergency services improve response times with more accurate understanding of where assistance is needed in real-time.

    The second mission is to drive greater use of geospatial applications and insights across the economy. Using location data, for example, to build a digital map of underground infrastructure so we can reduce disruption when pipes or cables need fixing, or to understand where we need to install more superfast charging points for long journeys with electric vehicles.

    The third mission is to build confidence in the future geospatial ecosystem – increasing the UK’s international standing through bringing together countries from around the world to share knowledge and insights so that we move geospatial technology forwards together.

    Conclusion

    So that’s what lies ahead.

    A government working hand in hand with our partners in industry, in academia, in global forums like London Tech Week to keep the UK at the forefront of this new digital frontier.

    A government that will proudly champion our world-leading science and tech sectors to drive investment, to level up communities throughout our United Kingdom.

    And to ensure that this growth translates into real improvements to people’s lives.

    Whether it’s more high-skilled, high-paid jobs on their doorsteps, whether it’s new training and educational opportunities in the technologies of tomorrow, whether it’s better diagnoses and treatment of life-threatening diseases.

    The UK is already the greatest tech and science success story of this decade. Together let’s make it a true tech and science superpower in the next decade and beyond.

    Thank you.

  • Rishi Sunak – 2023 Speech at London Tech Week

    Rishi Sunak – 2023 Speech at London Tech Week

    The speech made by Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, at London Tech Week held at QEII Centre in London on 12 June 2023.

    It’s great to be back at London Tech Week at what I think is a moment of huge opportunity.

    We are an island of innovation.

    But at a moment like this, when the tectonic plates of technology are shifting – not just in AI, but in quantum, synthetic biology, semiconductors, and much more – we cannot rest, satisfied with where we stand.

    We must act – and act quickly – if we want not only to retain our position as one of the world’s tech capitals but to go even further and make this the best country in the world to start, grow, and invest in tech businesses.

    That is my goal.

    And I feel a sense of urgency and responsibility to make sure that we seize it, because one of my five priorities is to grow our economy.

    And the more we innovate, the more we grow.

    But this isn’t just about economics.

    Like you, I believe that innovation is one of the most powerful forces for transforming people’s lives.

    And right now, there is an opportunity for human progress that could surpass the industrial revolution in both speed and breadth.

    I believe the UK can achieve this goal because we start from a position of strength.

    We’ve created 134 unicorns in the last decade – third in the world, behind only the US and China.

    We’re one of the most digitally literate societies in the world, with a higher percentage of STEM graduates than the US and 4 of world’s top 10 universities.

    We’ve got extraordinary strengths in Fintech, cyber and creative industries and engineering biology – where from the Crick and the Biobank to DeepMind’s Alphafold we’re pushing at the boundaries of what is possible in health.

    And the UK is the best place in Europe to raise capital with more invested in tech here than in France and Germany combined.

    But today, I want to answer a simple question.

    What’s the single most important reason innovators like you should choose this country?

    The answer is leadership.

    Do you trust the people in charge to really get what you’re trying to do?

    With this government, and with me as your Prime Minister, you can.

    Judge us – not by our words, but our actions.

    It’s this government that’s building the most pro-investment tax regime, that’s increasing public R&D investment to record levels and that’s making our visa system for international talent one of the most competitive in the world.

    We’re overhauling our listing rules to make it easier for companies to raise public funding, and changing our pensions rules to unlock new private capital.

    And we’re changing the way government itself works.

    I created a new department focused on science, innovation, and technology with a mission to do things differently – from bringing in world-leading experts to taking more risks in support of innovation.

    And when the moment came, it was this government that acted to rescue Silicon Valley Bank.

    So today, I’m proud to announce the launch of HSBC Innovation Banking the most significant global tech bank combined with HSBC’s firepower and headquartered here in the UK.

    And of course, it’s the UK where Google chose to bring together its entire AI division under the leadership of a Brit – Demis Hassabis – at Google Deepmind.

    And if our goal is to make this country the best place in the world for tech AI is surely one of the greatest opportunities before us.

    As Chancellor, I doubled the number of AI scholarships because even back then I recognised the potential of AI as a general-purpose technology.

    Now, with most things in life, the more you learn about them, the less magical they appear but the more we learn about frontier technologies like AI, the more they widen our horizons.

    Already we’ve seen AI help the paralysed to walk.

    And discover superbug-killing antibiotics.

    And that’s just the beginning.

    Combined with the computational power of quantum we could be on the precipice of discovering cures for diseases like cancer and dementia or ways to grow crops that could feed the entire world.

    The possibilities are extraordinary.

    But we must – and we will – do it safely.

    I know people are concerned.

    The very pioneers of AI are warning us about the ways these technologies could undermine our values and freedoms through to the most extreme risks of all.

    And that’s why leading on AI also means leading on AI safety.

    So, we’re building a new partnership between our vibrant academia, brilliant AI companies, and a government that gets it.

    And we’ll do that in three ways.

    First – we’re going to do cutting edge safety research here in the UK.

    With £100 million for our expert taskforce, we’re dedicating more funding to AI safety than any other government.

    We’re working with the frontier labs – Google DeepMind, OpenAI and Anthropic.

    And I’m pleased to announce they’ve committed to give early or priority access to models for research and safety purposes to help build better evaluations and help us better understand the opportunities and risks of these systems.

    Second – AI doesn’t respect traditional national borders.

    So we need global cooperation between nations and labs.

    Just as we unite through COP to tackle climate change so the UK will host the first ever Summit on global AI Safety later this year.

    I want to make the UK not just the intellectual home but the geographical home, of global AI safety regulation.

    And third, we’re going to seize the extraordinary potential of AI to improve people’s lives.

    That’s why we’re already investing record sums in our capability including £900 million in compute technology and £2.5 billion in quantum.

    And we’re harnessing AI to transform our public services from saving teachers hundreds of hours of time spent lesson planning to helping NHS patients get quicker diagnoses and more accurate tests.

    AI can help us achieve the holy grail of public service reform: better, more efficient services.

    So this is our strategy for safe AI:

    To lead at home; to lead overseas; and to lead change in our public services.

    All part of how we meet our goal of making this the best country in the world for tech.

    And let me just conclude with this final thought.

    I was recently looking through a collection held by the British Library.

    And I saw a letter from Charles Babbage to the then-Chancellor, dating from the 1830s thanking him for funding his difference engine – the forerunner of the modern computer.

    That was a decisive moment.

    The British government broke with the conventions of the time, and for a decade, backed this breakthrough technology.

    We’re at a similar moment today.

    And I’m determined that when future researchers visit the British Library in 200 years’ time they will discover that this government, and all of us here in this room met this moment with the same courage, vision, and determination.

    Thank you.