What do British politicians think about AI?
Artificial intelligence has become an increasingly important part of the political discourse over the last few years, gaining particular salience in legislative discourse and manifestos from 2017 onward.
This piece aims to summarise how politicians in the UK talk about artificial intelligence, what aspects of AI they emphasise and their policy approaches towards artificial intelligence. It is a work in progress and will be fleshed out and updated as time goes on.
Contents
- Mentions in Parliament
- Legislative Election Manifestos
- Conservative Party
- Labour Party
- Liberal Democrats
- Greens
- Scottish National Party
- Democratic Unionist Party
- Plaid Cymru
- UKIP
- The Brexit Party
- Change UK
- Overall
Mentions in Parliament and manifestos
Mentions in Parliament
In the United Kingdom, mentions of artificial intelligence and machine learning terms have spiked in records of the legislature since 2016. Additionally, machine learning was rarely mentioned before 2016, and has remained a small fraction of total mentions, relative to artificial intelligence.
The first mention of ‘artificial intelligence’ in Hansard was in a written question to the Secretary of State for Education and Science, Neil Macfarlane, from Ian Lloyd, the Conservative MP for Havant and Waterloo, asking whether: “[The Secretary of State] will take steps to encourage a reevaluation of research work on artificial intelligence at British universities and other research institutions by the science research council.” The term was first used on the floor of the house in a debate on Information Technology in November 1981, two years later, again by Ian Lloyd.
The dramatic increase in mentions of AI and machine learning in the Hansard records underlines its increasing political salience.
Legislative Election Manifestos
In the 2017 United Kingdom general election, only two of the seven parties to win and take up their seats in the House of Commons even name-checked artificial intelligence, once by the Conservatives and twice by the Liberal Democrats. The Liberal Democrats were the only party to mention ‘machine learning’. Still, this does mark the first time any parties in the United Kingdom (or anywhere in the Anglosphere) have ever addressed artificial intelligence directly in their manifestos. In 2015, both Labour and the Conservatives did mention robotics and the Green Party argued for the prohibition of autonomous weapons, but 2017 marks political parties recognising the issue of artificial intelligence more broadly.
The first party manifesto in Western Europe and Scandinavia to mention artificial intelligence was the Portugal Ahead alliance in Portugal’s 2015 legislative elections. It has since been mentioned by the Spanish Citizen’s Party, the Austrian People’s Party, Indomitable France, The Dutch People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy, and by three parties in the German legislative elections: The Greens, the Social Democratic Party and the Free Democratic Party. Given the ideological diversity of these parties, it seems that artificial intelligence has become a salient political, as well as policy, issue across Europe.
(The above is from the Manifesto Project using their Data Dashboard, with the keywords “artificial intelligence”, “machine learning”, and their relevant translations in Portuguese, Spanish, French, Dutch, Italian, German, Danish, Swedish, Finnish and Norwegian.)
What are politicians saying?
Conservative Party
In official press releases and statements, the Conservative Party cover a pretty diverse range of issues in relation to artificial intelligence, addressed by ministers across Defence, Industrial Strategy, Education, Healthy, the Treasury and the Prime Minster herself. This is likely a reflection on the Conservative Party currently being in government and so being compelled to address the implications of AI as they arise across different areas.
The Conservatives identified AI as one of their Grand Challenges for the future as part of their Industrial Strategy. This included a focus on investing in artificial intelligence research, which has culminated in funding up to 1000 AI PhDs and business-supported Masters courses. While in government, they have also established a dedicated Office for AI and a Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation.
The now former defence secretary, Gavin Williamson highlighted that they want to invest in the military applications of artificial intelligence, presumably also including autonomous weapons. The new defence secretary Penny Mordaunt has yet to comment whether she would like to take a different approach.
In terms of automation, some backbenchers like Robert Halfon have highlighted concerns about the lost of jobs from automation, e.g. in April 2018: “automation and artificial intelligence will take millions of jobs from working class and middle class alike”
They further repeatedly mention AI’s potential applications in healthcare and autonomous vehicles.
Labour Party
Looking at Labour Party official press releases and statements, the vast majority of Labour’s explicit policy and discussion around artificial intelligence focuses on the future of work.
This includes concerns about the potential loss of jobs due to automation, undermining current working and employment structures, and the need for reskilling workers. This is exemplified by the Labour-associated research that has taken place in this sphere, such as Tom Watson’s Future of Work Commission which has now become the Institute for the Future of Work, and The Fabian Society’s Commission on Workers and Technology, chaired by Yvette Cooper.
Other areas where artificial intelligence has been discussed is in relation to investment and a couple of potential applications. John McDonnell, as shadow chancellor, has repeatedly critiqued Britain’s comparative lack of investment in artificial intelligence research and industrial robotics. Labour has also highlighted a couple instances of how artificial intelligence could be applied to specific problems, like climate change or healthcare. More recently, Tom Watson has emphasised the need for ethical oversight and protection against algorithmic bias in machine learning system.
Overall, a focus on inequality and discrimination runs through a significant amount of Labour’s discussion of AI.
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats recognise artificial intelligence is going to bring major changes to society, highlighting the impact of automation like the other parties. They also recognise specific issues around AI, from its impact on healthcare, transport, care etc. to the potential issues around discrimination and ethics.
In their 2017 general election manifesto, they say: “The advent of robotics and increasing artificial intelligence will also change the nature of work for many people. The government needs to act now to ensure this technological march can benefit everyone and that no areas are left in technology’s wake.”
“The advent of robotics and increasing artificial intelligence will also change the nature of work for many people…. Our long-term goal is to double innovation and research spending across the economy…. [We will] create a new retail and business strategy to look at the impact of new technology on jobs in key sectors.”
In January 2018, their leader Vince Cable identified “preparing Britain for the advances in automation and artificial intelligence which are coming down the track” as one of the focuses of his leadership at a national level.
In his speech to their Spring 2018 conference, Vince Cable, said: “The technological revolution also poses a different kind of challenge. We do not yet fully understand the impact on jobs of Artificial Intelligence and the spread of automation from manufacturing to professional and other services.
I believe we should welcome the advent of new technologies and the opportunities they bring.But we must anticipate that those without adaptable skills could be badly hurt. The answer — the only answer — is massive investment in education, skill training and retraining: schools, FE colleges, universities, lifelong learning, remote and college based.”
In July 2018, Cable launched: “ a series of initiatives to confront the issues thrown up by the new digital economy and deal with the ‘data giants’; a group is looking at how best to support lifelong learning for people whose future is potentially subject to the upheavals of technological change; another will soon look more broadly at the impact of new technologies like AI and how best to respond to them.”
They now are taking a pro-active and targeted approach to AI, with the lead especially being taken by deputy leader Jo Swinson who setup a Technology and Artificial Intelligence Commission. This commission will focus on develop polices on core ethical principles for data scientists developing new technologies, ensuring minority groups are involved in the development and application of technology, and an industrial strategy for British technology. The latest reports suggest they are currently looking at AI Ethics. The commission is due to report back by the Liberal Democrat Conference in mid-September.
Swinson has been talking about the effects of automation since at least November 2017: “The world of work is changing. Constant technological advances, in automation and in artificial intelligence, threaten many traditional jobs. In the next 15 years, almost 1 in every 3 current jobs in Britain could be automated. 1 in 3. That’s 10 million people. The government must start planning for this future. They should have started already.”
Most recently, in the 2019 European Elections, the Liberal Democrats manifesto’s section on innovation states that they “will encourage competition among companies in the digital space, and support the decisive use of European and UK competition powers to prevent the tech giants from exploiting consumers and to ensure innovation through competition.”
Specially on AI, they believe “the EU should be the first to create a solid legal framework for new technologies such as artificial intelligence to be used in the economy and public life. Legislation should, however, be focused on applications that use these new technologies and not on the underlying technologies themselves, since this would otherwise limit innovation and the creation of new applications.”
Greens
At a European level, working with the rest of the Green group, they have been successful in putting Lethal Autonomous Weapons on the agenda. This led to the European Parliament calling for an international treaty to ban killer robots and demanding that no money from the European Defence Fund goes into the research and development of killer robots, which is a significant win.
In the 2019 European Elections, the Green Party manifesto states that they believe “Europe must not seek profits from unscrupulous exports of arms, police and security equipment and surveillance technologies to those who use them for harm. New stronger controls over surveillance technology, drones, and artificial intelligence are needed.”
Otherwise, they have expressed generic concerns about automation and the future of work, advocating Universal Basic Income and a four-day week as possible solutions.
Scottish National Party
Nicola Sturgeon, in a speech to Georgetown University, highlighted artificial intelligence and automation as global challenges on the same level as an ageing population and climate change. The SNP have generally expressed concerns about the impact of AI and automation in the context of the future of work and inequality.
For example, SNP MPs, such as Stewart Hosie and Drew Hendry, have recognised the development of AI as a central challenge in the context of the economy, though not in wider society. Additionally John Swinney MSP, Deputy First Minister of Scotland, called to focus efforts on artificial intelligence and automation in the context of building Scotland’s economic future.
Democratic Unionist Party
The Democratic Union Party main discussion of artificial intelligence
The use of artificial intelligence in healthcare in Northern Ireland and the need to invest in coding skills in order to exploit the benefits from artificial intelligence.
Plaid Cymru
They have made cursory mentions of the need to respond to automation, and one of their MPs, Liz Saville Roberts, expressing an interest in the use of AI in justice. However, they don’t appear to have a defined stance on AI.
UKIP
Nothing
The Brexit Party
Nothing
Change UK
In the 2019 European Elections, the Change UK manifesto states they believe: “Wemust focus on skills, training and a proper system which helps people as they change career. We must prepare for the rise of automation and support investment in the industries of the future where, thanks to its world-leading universities and science infrastructure, Britain is well placed to lead.”
Overall
Politicians in the UK generally seem to talk about ‘AI’ in quite a general way, conflating many different topics. Generally in reference to automation.
Three quarters of MPs believe there needs to be more regulation of the technology sector generally. Further, almost two-thirds of MPs believe that current debates around technology focus too much on material and economic progress as defined by technology companies, rather than focusing on the potential impact on individual wellbeing and wider societal changes.
56% of MPs also believe that technology companies from authoritarian countries should be regulated more stringently than companies from democracies and 66% of MPs believe that technology companies have begun to pose a threat to democracy.
Methodology Note
I did this by looking at official press releases, manifestos, statements by elected politicians and Hansard records from UK political parties that hold seats in the House of Commons or who score more than 1% on national polls, as of May 2019. The keywords I looked for were: automation OR robotics OR algorithm OR “Artificial Intelligence” OR “machine learning” OR “AI” OR “facial recognition”
