UK should set up ‘national lab’ to become world leader in AI – Blair and Hague

The UK should establish a “national laboratory” to test artificial intelligence (AI) with the aim of becoming the “brain” of both a British and international regulator, according to a report by Sir Tony Blair and Lord William Hague.

The two former party leaders argue that a “complete realignment” is needed, including an overhaul of Government machinery, in order to respond to the “radically reshaped” society that the technology is expected to create.

The report, A New National Purpose: AI Promises a World-Leading Future of Britain, suggests the UK must create new institutions in order to guide this change safely.

Society is about to be radically reshaped, requiring a more strategic state and a fundamental change in how we plan for the future

It recommends setting up a “national laboratory” – which it gives the placeholder name “Sentinel – to work with the private sector and other nations in researching and testing the technology.

The project would be loosely modelled on the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) and would aim to ensure the safe use of AI.

The five-year aim of such a laboratory would be to “form the international regulatory function across the AI ecosystem,” the report says.

The system would need to be “sufficiently resourced to operate at the cutting edge of AI,” the paper says, citing the £1 billion per year budget for DeepMind – a similar AI research project – as a reference.

The former Labour prime minister and former Conservative leader also urge the Government to “work with the European Union” to develop a model of regulation aligned with US standards.

Britain should push for a new UN framework on urgent safeguards for the technology along with the US and other allies, the paper also concludes.

We’re racing against time and every step and decision has to be taken at speed but with clear goals

The report calls for urgent steps in three main areas: “major changes” in how Government is organised; building the UK’s leadership in developing safe AI; and pioneering the deployment of the technology in the real world.

In a joint foreword, the two former party leaders said: “This report describes what this country will need to do to be a world leader in the safe and successful development of artificial intelligence, a matter becoming so urgent and important that how we respond is more likely than anything else to determine Britain’s future.

“Society is about to be radically reshaped, requiring a more strategic state and a fundamental change in how we plan for the future. These ideas are intended to help all political parties find the best way forward, with the necessary speed and sense of priority, in a period of dramatic change and opportunity that has already begun.”

Lead author Benedict Macon-Cooney said: “AI is an era-defining technology and the nations that can harness its potential will be the ones to define the future.

“We’re racing against time and every step and decision has to be taken at speed but with clear goals; to put in place critical, foundational AI infrastructure and to drive the growth of the next generation of superstar companies.

“Existing institutional approaches to AI are not working and the UK cannot miss out on the wave of innovation that safe, democratic AI can bring. By investing in talent, public data and promoting research, the UK can become a leader in the deployment of these technologies into the real world for the public good.”

It comes after Rishi Sunak, speaking at London Tech Week, highlighted concern about the impact on jobs and risk of misuse of the technology alongside its power to transform work and public services.

The Prime Minister has said he wants to make the UK both the intellectual and the geographical home of AI regulation.

Mr Sunak has also accepted the UK must “act quickly” if it wants to be seen as a tech powerhouse as the “tectonic plates of technology are shifting”.