The vision was set out by UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly and calls upon international partners to collaborate and coordinate their efforts in harnessing AI for development in Africa and making progress towards the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

As part of its efforts, the UK is launching the ‘AI for Development’ programme in partnership with Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC). The primary focus of this initiative is to assist developing countries, primarily in Africa, in building local AI capabilities and fostering innovation.

The announcement coincides with the UK’s co-convening of an event on AI during the margins of the UN General Assembly. This high-level session – chaired by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken – will assemble governments, tech companies, and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to explore how AI can expedite progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. These goals aim to create a healthier, fairer, and more prosperous world by 2030.

In parallel with these efforts, the UK is committing £1 million in investment towards a pioneering fund known as the Complex Risk Analytics Fund (‘CRAF’d’). This fund, in collaboration with international partners, will harness the power of AI to prevent crises before they occur. Additionally, it will provide assistance during emergencies and support countries in their recovery towards sustainable development.

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said:

“The opportunity of AI is immense. It has already been shown to speed up drug discovery, help develop new treatments for common diseases, and predict food insecurity—to name only a few uses.

The UK, alongside our allies and partners, is making sure that the fulfilment of this enormous potential is shared globally.

As AI continues to rapidly evolve, we need a global approach that seizes the opportunities that AI can bring to solving humanity’s shared challenges. The UK-hosted AI summit this November will be key to helping us achieve this.”

Julie Delahanty, President of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), expressed her satisfaction with the collaboration between IDRC and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO).

“IDRC is pleased to announce a new collaboration with FCDO, a key ally in tackling the most pressing development challenges,” said Delahanty.

“The AI for Development program will build on existing partnerships, leveraging AI’s capacity to reduce inequalities, address poverty, improve food systems, confront the challenges of climate change and make education more inclusive, while also mitigating risks.”

This announcement underscores the broader commitment of the UK to employ AI innovation to tackle global challenges, including the pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals.

In a separate event, scheduled for 1-2 November 2023, the UK will host the world’s first major AI Safety Summit at the historic Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire. This summit aims to garner international consensus on the urgent need for safety measures in cutting-edge AI technology.

See also: White House secures safety commitments from eight more AI companies

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British chip designer ARM’s technology is at the heart of most mobile devices. Meanwhile, Nvidia’s GPUs are increasingly being used for AI computation in servers, desktops, and even things like self-driving vehicles.

However, Nvidia was most interested in ARM’s presence in edge devices—which it estimates to be in the region of 180 billion.

Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, said:

“ARM is an incredible company and it employs some of the greatest engineering minds in the world. But we believe we can make ARM even more incredible and take it to even higher levels.

We want to propel it — and the UK — to global AI leadership.”

There were concerns Nvidia’s acquisition would lead to job losses, but the company has promised to keep the business in the UK. The company says it’s planning to hire more staff and retain ARM’s iconic brand.

Nvidia is going further in its commitment to the UK by opening a new AI centre in Cambridge, which is home to an increasing number of exciting startups in the field such as FiveAI, Prowler.io, Fetch.ai, and Darktrace.

“We will create an open centre of excellence in the area once home to giants like Isaac Newton and Alan Turing, for whom key NVIDIA technologies are named.

Here, leading scientists, engineers and researchers from the UK and around the world will come to develop their ideas, collaborate and conduct their ground-breaking work in areas like healthcare, life sciences, self-driving cars, and other fields.”

The new centre will have five key features when it opens:

• ARM/Nvidia-based supercomputer – set to be one of the most powerful AI supercomputers in the world.
• Research Fellowships and Partnerships – Nvidia will use the centre to establish new UK-based research partnerships, expanding on successful relationships already established with King’s College and Oxford.
• AI Training – Nvidia will make its AI curriculum available across the UK to help create job opportunities and prepare “the next generation of UK developers for AI leadership”
• Startup Accelerator – With so many of the world’s most exciting AI companies launching in the UK, the Nvidia Inception accelerator will help startups succeed by providing access to the aforementioned supercomputer, connections to researchers from NVIDIA and partners, technical training, and marketing promotion.
• Industry Collaboration – AI is still in its infancy but will impact every industry to some extent. Nvidia says its new research facility will be an open hub for industry collaboration, building on the company’s existing relationships with the likes of GSK, Oxford Nanopore, and other leaders in their fields.

The UK is Europe’s leader in AI and the British government is investing heavily in ensuring it maintains its pole position. Beyond funding, the UK is also aiming to ensure it’s among the best places to run an AI company.

Current EU rules, especially around data, are often seen as limiting the development of European AI companies when compared to elsewhere in the world. While the UK will have to avoid being accused of doing a so-called “bonfire of regulations” post-Brexit, data collection regulations is likely an area which will be relaxed.

In the UK’s historic trade deal signed with Japan last week, several enhancements were made over the blanket EU-Japan deal signed earlier this year. Among the perceived improvements is the “free flow of data” by not enforcing localisation requirements, and that algorithms can remain private.

UK trade secretary Liz Truss said: “The agreement we have negotiated – in record time and in challenging circumstances – goes far beyond the existing EU deal, as it secures new wins for British businesses in our great manufacturing, food and drink, and tech industries.”

Japan and the UK, as two global tech giants, are expected to deepen their collaboration in the coming years—building on the trade deal signed last week.

Shigeki Ishizuka, Chairman of the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association, said: “We are confident that this mutual relationship will be further strengthened as an ambitious agreement that will contribute to the promotion of cooperation in research and development, the promotion of innovation, and the further expansion of inter-company collaboration.”

Nvidia’s investment shows that it has confidence in the UK’s strong AI foundations continuing to gain momentum in the coming years.

(Photo by A Perry on Unsplash)

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While the news has gone somewhat under the radar given recent events, the Americans are concerned that overregulation may cause Western nations to fall behind the rest of the world.

In a statement released by the Office of Science and Technology Policy, the White House wrote:

“Europe and our allies should avoid heavy handed innovation-killing models, and instead consider a similar regulatory approach.

The best way to counter authoritarian uses of AI is to make sure America and our international partners remain the global hubs of innovation, shaping the evolution of technology in a manner consistent with our common values.”

The UK is expected to retain its lead as the European hub for AI innovation with vast amounts of private and public sector investment, successful companies like DeepMind, and world class universities helping to address the global talent shortage. In Oxford Insights’ 2017 Government AI Readiness Index, the UK ranked number one due to areas such as digital skills training and data quality. The Index considers public service reform, economy and skills, and digital infrastructure.

Despite its European AI leadership, the UK would struggle to match the levels of funding afforded to firms residing in superpowers like the US and China. Many experts have suggested the UK should instead focus on leading in the ethical integration of AI and developing sensible regulations, an area it has much experience in.

Here’s a timeline of some recent work from the UK government towards this goal:

• September 2016 – the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee published a 44-page report on “Robotics and Artificial Intelligence” which investigates the economic and social implications of employment changes, ethical and legal issues around safety, verification, bias, privacy, and accountability; and strategies to enhance research, funding, and innovation
• January 2017 – an All Party Parliamentary Group on Artificial Intelligence (APPG AI) was established to address ethical issues, social impact, industry norms, and regulatory options for AI in parliament.
• June 2017 – parliament established the Select Committee on AI to further consider the economic, ethical and social implications of advances in artificial intelligence, and to make recommendations. All written and oral evidence received by the committee can be seen here.
• April 2018 – the aforementioned committee published a 183-page report, “AI in the UK: ready, willing and able?” which considers AI development and governance in the UK. It acknowledges that the UK cannot compete with the US or China in terms of funding or people but suggests the country may have a competitive advantage in considering the ethics of AI.
• September 2018 – the UK government launched an experiment with the World Economic Forum to develop procurement policies for AI. The partnership will bring together diverse stakeholders to collectively develop guidelines to capitalise on governments’ buying power to support the responsible deployment and design of AI technologies.

Western nations are seen as being at somewhat of a disadvantage due to sensitivities around privacy. EU nations, in particular, have strict data collection regulations such as GDPR which limits the amount of data researchers can collect to train AIs.

“Very often we hear ‘Where are the British and European Googles and Facebooks?’ Well, it’s because of barriers like this which stop organisations like that being possible to grow and develop,” said Peter Wright, solicitor and managing director of Digital Law UK.

Dependent on the UK’s future trade arrangement with the EU, it could, of course, decide to chart its own regulatory path following Brexit.

Speaking to reporters in a call, US CTO Michael Kratsios said: “Pre-emptive and burdensome regulation does not only stifle economic innovation and growth, but also global competitiveness amid the rise of authoritarian governments that have no qualms with AI being used to track, surveil, and imprison their own people.”

In the same call, US deputy CTO Lynne Parker commented: “As countries around the world grapple with similar questions about the appropriate regulation of AI, the US AI regulatory principles demonstrate that America is leading the way to shape the evolution in a way that reflects our values of freedom, human rights, and civil liberties.

“The new European Commission has said they intend to release an AI regulatory document in the coming months. After a productive meeting with Commissioner Vestager in November, we encourage Europe to use the US AI principles as a framework. The best way to counter authoritarian uses of AI is to make America and our national partners remain the global hub of innovation, advancing our common values.”

A similar regulation to GDPR in California called CCPA was also signed into law in June 2018. “I think the examples in the US today at state and local level are examples of overregulation which you want to avoid on the national level,” said a government official.

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An index published today, compiled by Oxford Insights in partnership with the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) in Canada, places the UK as Europe’s leading nation and just second on the world stage.

Margot James, Minister for Digital and the Creative Industries, said:

“I’m delighted the UK government has been recognised as one of the best in the world in readiness for Artificial Intelligence.

AI is already having a positive impact across society – from detecting fraud and diagnosing medical conditions, to helping us discover new music – and we’re working hard to make the most of its vast opportunities while managing and mitigating the potential risks.

With our newly appointed AI Council, we will boost the growth and use of AI in the UK, by using the knowledge of experts from a range of sectors and encourage dialogue between industry, academia and the public sector, to realise the full potential of data-driven technologies to the economy.”

Singapore pipped the UK for number one, although both scored over 9.0 in the index’s rankings. The researchers used 11 input metrics to determine countries’ rankings which assess governance, infrastructure and data, skills and education, and government and public services.

Here are the index’s top 20 countries:

Western European governments make up the bulk of the top 20, with Germany just behind the UK in third place. There’s also Finland (5th), Sweden (6th), France (8th), Denmark (9th), Norway (12th), Netherlands (14th), Italy (15th), Austria (16th), and Switzerland (18th).

Seeing this many European governments, particularly EU nations, will be of surprise to some. Many believe Europe to be behind in AI due to strict regulations around things such as data collection.

One country often considered to be a leader in AI is China, in part a result of its mass data collection. However, China squeezes in the top 20. The researchers note this is due to limited data availability providing lower scores in metrics like infrastructure.

Richard Stirling, CEO at Oxford Insights, comments:

“It was not surprising that Singapore came top of the rankings, but the UK has also performed extremely well, and the government has demonstrated its commitment with initiatives such as the Artificial Intelligence Sector Deal in April 2018.

However, there is global competition in the AI space, and as our research highlights, other countries such as France, Germany and China have also announced significant investments and introduced AI strategies.  

If the UK is to stay ahead in the field, we must continue to support AI research, technologies, and companies with a clear national strategy and investment programme to support continuous innovation.”

Oxford Insights previously listed the UK as number one for AI readiness in a prior index examining 35 OECD countries, but the new index is much broader in scope. The new index analysed 194 countries using a vaster range of source data.

Just yesterday, Chinese technology giant Tencent announced it led a $100m (£78.4m) funding round for promising British AI startup Prowler. Dr Ling Ge, Chief European Representative at Tencent, said: “The UK is a global leader in AI and is increasingly becoming a focus for companies looking to invest in the sector.”

Last week, the UK government announced the names of board members appointed to its AI Council. The AI council features a range of industry talent from representatives of companies using it for their operations, to policymakers aiming to overcome adoption barriers while ensuring safe integration.

Digital Secretary, Jeremy Wright, stated: “Britain is already a leading authority in AI. We are home to some of the world’s finest academic institutions, landing record levels of investment to the sector, and attracting the best global tech talent, but we must not be complacent.”

Given the rate of AI news coming from the UK, it doesn’t seem there’s any danger of complacency.

Interested in hearing industry leaders discuss subjects like this and their use cases? Attend the co-located AI & Big Data Expo events with upcoming shows in Silicon Valley, London, and Amsterdam to learn more. Co-located with the IoT Tech Expo, Blockchain Expo, and Cyber Security & Cloud Expo.

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As one of the global leaders in AI, the global community will be looking to who the UK has appointed to its council and awaiting its guidance.

Digital Secretary, Jeremy Wright, said:

“Britain is already a leading authority in AI. We are home to some of the world’s finest academic institutions, landing record levels of investment to the sector, and attracting the best global tech talent, but we must not be complacent.

Through our AI Council we will continue this momentum by leveraging the knowledge of experts from a range of sectors to provide leadership on the best use and adoption of artificial intelligence across the economy.

Under the leadership of Tabitha Goldstaub, the Council will represent the UK AI Sector on the international stage and help us put in place the right skills and practices to make the most of data-driven technologies.”

Here’s a list of those who’ve made the cut:

• Paul Clarke (Ocado’s Chief Technology Officer)
• Dame Patricia Hodgson (Board Member of the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation)
• Professor Adrian Smith (The Alan Turing Institute Chief Executive)
• Kriti Sharma (Founder of AI for Good)
• Mark Walport (UKRI Chief Executive)
• Professor David Lane (Founding Director of the Edinburgh Centre for Robotics)

Each of the board members brings a vast amount of knowledge in AI. Clarke, for example, oversaw the implementation of AI at Ocado for personalising the shopping experience for shoppers while predicting demand and detecting fraud.

On the policy-side, Professor Smith of The Alan Turing Institute brings his organisation’s experience of identifying and overcoming barriers to AI adoption in society. This includes matters such as skills, consumer trust, and ensuring the protection of sensitive data.

Business Secretary Greg Clark said:

“The use of Artificial Intelligence is becoming integral to people’s everyday lives, from companies protecting their customers from fraud to smart devices in our homes.

The outstanding expertise of those joining our new AI Council will be invaluable as we look to develop this ever-changing industry into one that is world-leading, attracting the brightest and best to work in new highly-skilled jobs.

This AI Council follows our ground-breaking AI Sector Deal, and is a key part of our modern Industrial Strategy – investing now to secure the UK’s position on the world stage in these cutting edge technologies both now and long into the future.”

The creation of AI boards has often been deemed necessary, but some attempts so far have been met with mixed responses. Google famously created an AI ethics board earlier this year before swiftly disbanding it after backlash.

Hopefully, the UK’s attempt will fare better (and stick around for a bit longer!)

Related: Watch our interview with Ilya Feige, Head of Research at Faculty, discussing AI fairness and ethics boards at AI Expo Global 2019:

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A browse through our ‘ethics’ category here on AI News will highlight the serious problem of bias in today’s algorithms. With AIs being increasingly used for decision-making, parts of society could be left behind.

Conducted by the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation (CDEI), the investigation will focus on areas where AI has tremendous potential – such as policing, recruitment, and financial services – but would have a serious negative impact on lives if not implemented correctly.

Digital Secretary Jeremy Wright said:

“Technology is a force for good which has improved people’s lives but we must make sure it is developed in a safe and secure way.

Our Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation has been set up to help us achieve this aim and keep Britain at the forefront of technological development.

I’m pleased its team of experts is undertaking an investigation into the potential for bias in algorithmic decision-making in areas including crime, justice and financial services. I look forward to seeing the Centre’s recommendations to Government on any action we need to take to help make sure we maximise the benefits of these powerful technologies for society.”

Durham police are currently using AI for a tool it calls ‘Harm Assessment Risk’. As you might guess, the AI determines whether an individual is likely to cause further harm. The tool helps with decisions on whether an individual is eligible for deferred prosecution.

If an algorithm is more or less effective on individuals with different characteristics over another, serious problems would arise.

Roger Taylor, Chair of the CDEI, is expected to say during a Downing Street event:

“The Centre is focused on addressing the greatest challenges and opportunities posed by data driven technology. These are complex issues and we will need to take advantage of the expertise that exists across the UK and beyond. If we get this right, the UK can be the global leader in responsible innovation.

We want to work with organisations so they can maximise the benefits of data driven technology and use it to ensure the decisions they make are fair. As a first step we will be exploring the potential for bias in key sectors where the decisions made by algorithms can have a big impact on people’s lives.

I am delighted that the Centre is today publishing its strategy setting out our priorities.”

In a 2010 study, researchers at NIST and the University of Texas in Dallas found (PDF) algorithms designed and tested in East Asia are better at recognising East Asians, while those developed in Western countries are more accurate when detecting Caucasians.

Similar worrying discrepancies were highlighted by Algorithmic Justice League founder Joy Buolamwini during a presentation at the World Economic Forum back in January. For her research, she analysed popular facial recognition algorithms.

These issues with bias in algorithms need to be addressed now before they are used for critical decision-making. The public is currently unconvinced AI will benefit humanity, and AI companies themselves are bracing for ‘reputational harm’ along the way.

Interim reports from the CDEI will be released in the summer with final reports set to be published early next year.

Interested in hearing industry leaders discuss subjects like this and their use cases? Attend the co-located AI & Big Data Expo events with upcoming shows in Silicon Valley, London, and Amsterdam to learn more. Co-located with the IoT Tech Expo, Blockchain Expo, and Cyber Security & Cloud Expo.

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Venture capital firms invested a record $1.3bn (£998m) in UK-based AI companies last year.

The figures are provided by Dealroom and show a fourfold increase in five years. A couple of notable rounds includes $200 million for Graphcore in your humble editor’s hometown of Bristol, and $50 million for what feels like my second home of London.

For comparative purposes, French AI startups raised $400 million last year, while Germany raised $300 million.

But the UK is not slowing down. Business Secretary Greg Clark and Digital Secretary Jeremy Wright announced today £200 million to establish 16 new centres and deliver 1,000 new PhDs to ensure the UK leads the global revolution in AI.

Business Secretary Greg Clark said:

“The UK has long been a nation of innovators and today’s package of AI skills and talent investment will help nurture leading UK and international talent to ensure we retain our world-beating reputation in research and development.

Artificial intelligence has great potential to drive up productivity and enhance every industry throughout our economy, from more effective disease diagnosis to building smart homes. Today’s announcement is our modern Industrial Strategy in action, investing in skills and talent to drive high skilled jobs, growth and productivity across the UK.”

A £100 million investment will support these PhD students in using AI to improve healthcare, tackle climate change, and create new commercial opportunities. Over 300 partners are involved including AstraZeneca, Google, Rolls-Royce, and NHS trusts.

The private companies are investing a total of £78 million in cash or in-kind contributions, while the universities are committing a further £23 million. This brings up the investment to over £200 million.

Digital Secretary Jeremy Wright commented:

“The UK is not only the birthplace to the father of artificial intelligence, Alan Turing, but we are leading the way on work to ensure AI innovation has ethics at its core. We want to keep up this momentum and cement our reputation as pioneers in AI.

Working with world-class academic institutions and industry we will be able to train the next generation of top-tier AI talent and maintain the UK’s reputation as a trailblazer in emerging technologies.”

Despite the national doom and gloom over Brexit, foreign investment keeps flowing into talented startups which may become the next DeepMind.

Interested in hearing industry leaders discuss subjects like this and their use cases? Attend the co-located AI & Big Data Expo events with upcoming shows in Silicon Valley, London, and Amsterdam to learn more. Co-located with the IoT Tech Expo, Blockchain Expo, and Cyber Security & Cloud Expo.

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Patients will benefit from the use of AI to diagnose problems earlier, greatly increasing the chances of successful treatment.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said:

“Artificial intelligence will play a crucial role in the future of the NHS – and we need to embrace it by introducing systems which can speed up diagnoses, improve patient outcomes, make every pound go further, and give clinicians more time with their patients.

As part of our long-term plan, we will transform the NHS into an ecosystem of enterprise and innovation that allows technology to flourish and evolve.”

The new centres are based in Leeds, Glasgow, Oxford, Coventry, and London but will share their expertise with partners across the UK. Findings and breakthroughs will lead to better treatment decisions across the NHS.

Here is what each centre will focus on:

• London Medical Imaging and Artificial Intelligence Centre for Value-Based Healthcare will use artificial intelligence in medical imaging and related clinical data for faster and earlier diagnosis and automating expensive and time-consuming manual reporting
• Glasgow’s I-CAIRD (Industrial Centre for AI Research in Digital Diagnostics) will bring together clinicians, health planners, and industry to work with innovative SMEs to answer clinical questions, and solve healthcare challenges more quickly and efficiently
• NCIMI (National Consortium of Intelligent Medical Imaging) in Oxford will consider the role clinical imaging plays in the delivery of more personalised care and earlier diagnosis to support disease prevention and treatment
• The Northern Pathology Imaging Collaborative (NPIC) located in Leeds will boost the city’s reputation in digital pathology research further by creating a world-leading centre linking up 9 industry partners, 8 universities and 9 NHS trusts
• Based in Coventry, the Pathology image data Lake for Analytics, Knowledge and Education (PathLAKE) will use NHS pathology data to drive economic growth in health-related AI

AI is a major part of the UK government’s so-called Industrial Strategy. Over four years, £4.7 billion will be invested to address the opportunities and challenges of the future.

Business Secretary Greg Clark said:

“AI has the potential to revolutionise healthcare and improve lives for the better. That’s why our modern Industrial Strategy puts pioneering technologies at the heart of our plans to build a Britain fit for the future.

The innovation at these new centres will help diagnose disease earlier to give people more options when it comes to their treatment and make reporting more efficient, freeing up time for our much-admired NHS staff time to spend on direct patient care.”

The current plan is to have the new centres operational during 2019.

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Pepper will be attempting to explain topics such as AI and robotics to The Commons Education Select Committee.

“If we’ve got the march of the robots, we perhaps need the march of the robots to our select committee to give evidence,” Committee chair Robert Halfon told Tes.

“The fourth industrial revolution is possibly the most important challenge facing our nation over the next 10, 20, to 30 years.”

AI and robotics will drastically change our societies, and not always for the better. There will be serious challenges ahead.

It’s rare to hear of AI being discussed without the potential impact on jobs. Low-skilled workers, in particular, are most threatened by automation replacement.

The Select Committee will be looking to understand what impacts the fourth industrial revolution will have and how the negatives can be reduced. They’re hoping Pepper can help, though it all feels somewhat a gimmick.

“This is not about someone bringing an electronic toy robot and doing a demonstration,” said Mr Halfon. “It’s about showing the potential of robotics and artificial intelligence and the impact it has on skills.”

Pepper is equipped with four microphones, two HD cameras, and a touchscreen on its chest for displaying information when needed.

We caught up with Pepper at MWC earlier this year:

Fortunately, Pepper is experienced with public speaking after featuring on stages around the world. The robot could perhaps even offer advice to some leading tech company CEOs on coming across more human.

 Interested in hearing industry leaders discuss subjects like this? Attend the co-located AI & Big Data Expo events with upcoming shows in Silicon Valley, London, and Amsterdam to learn more. Co-located with the IoT Tech Expo, Blockchain Expo, and Cyber Security & Cloud Expo so you can explore the future of enterprise technology in one place.

(Image Credit: Pepper at Opening Ceremony of the 28th Tokyo International Film Festival by Dick Thomas Johnson under CC BY 2.0)

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The professional services firm’s analysts predict, in the UK at least, the number of jobs destroyed by AI is likely to be counteracted by the number of roles created.

In fact, over the next 20 years, PwC expects around 7.2 million to be created versus seven million displaced – resulting in a small net jobs growth of around 0.2 million.

Euan Cameron, UK AI leader at PwC, said:

“AI offers a huge potential economic boost to the UK and it’s great to see the government recognise and support the development of the sector through the AI Sector Deal.

People are understandably worried about the impact of AI on jobs, and businesses and the government need to address these concerns head-on. Our research highlights where the biggest impacts will be and which areas are most vulnerable so that businesses and government can plan how best to help people develop the skills that will prepare them for the future.

It’s likely that the fourth industrial revolution will favour those with strong digital skills, as well as capabilities like creativity and teamwork which machines find it harder to replicate.

Historically, rapid technological change has often been associated with increases in wealth and income inequality, so it’s vital that government and business work together to make sure everyone benefits from the positive benefits that AI can bring. These include increased productivity and consumer choice, as well as improved outcomes in those areas that matter most to people such as education to healthcare.”

Many reports until now have taken hardline stances – either AI will drastically alter the jobs market and will require ideas such as UBI (Universal Basic Income) to be considered, or it will simply help to improve the efficiency of existing jobs.

PwC expects certain industries to be ‘winners’ in terms of job growth, while others will lose out.

Winners:

• • Health (+22%)

• • Professional, scientific and technical services (+16%)

• Education (+6%)

Losers:

• • Manufacturing (-25%)

• • Transport and storage (-22%)

• Public administration (-18%)

It’s notable that low-wage jobs are set to lose out the most. This highlights a particular risk to individuals such as factory workers who are most likely to be among the first to be replaced by artificial intelligence.

However, the report notes: “A job being at ‘high risk’ of being automated does not mean that it will definitely be automated, as there could be a range of economic, legal and regulatory and organisational barriers to the adoption of these new technologies.”

John Hawksworth, Chief Economist at PwC, commented:

“Major new technologies, from steam engines to computers, displace some existing jobs but also generate large productivity gains. This reduces prices and increases real income and spending levels, which in turn creates demand for additional workers. Our analysis suggests the same will be true of AI, robots and related technologies, but the distribution of jobs across sectors will shift considerably in the process.

Healthcare is likely to see rising employment as it will be increasingly in demand as society becomes richer and the UK population ages. While some jobs may be displaced, many more are likely to be created as real incomes rise and patients still want the ‘human touch’ from doctors, nurses and other health and social care workers.

On the other hand, as driverless vehicles roll out across the economy and factories and warehouses become increasingly automated, the manufacturing and transportation and storage sectors could see a reduction in employment levels.”

PwC recommends the government invests more in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education to ensure the workforce is prepared for the needs of the future economy, while also increasing the ‘safety net’ for those who struggle to adapt.

Furthermore, the government should implement its AI strategy ‘in full’ to ensure policies support development of the sector and maximise the income effect of the rapidly-advancing technology on jobs in the UK.

The full results can be found in PwC’s UK Economic Outlook July 2018 report which can be found here (PDF)

Do you agree with PwC’s analysis of AI’s impact on the jobs market? Let us know in the comments.

 Interested in hearing industry leaders discuss subjects like this and sharing their use-cases? Attend the co-located AI & Big Data Expo events with upcoming shows in Silicon Valley, London and Amsterdam to learn more. Co-located with the  IoT Tech Expo, Blockchain Expo and Cyber Security & Cloud Expo so you can explore the future of enterprise technology in one place.

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