John Healey pledges to use budget to harness power of AI to bolster Britain’s security

John Healey has pledged to use Wednesday’s budget to harness the power of artificial intelligence to bolster Britain’s security and prosperity against the risks in the accelerating global technology arms race.

As he prepares for his debut budget, the chancellor said that Andy Burnham’s government would commit hundreds of millions of pounds to develop a “distinctively British” approach to AI that would capitalise on the benefits of the frontier technology.

At a fork in the road as AI developments pose both existential threats and transformative economic potential, Healey said he would be making the biggest ever investment to guard against cyber risks and the disruptive potential of the technology.

As part of the measures in his tax and spending statement, he promised fresh investment for Britain’s AI Security Institute and other critical institutions, alongside allocating public money to support the use of the technology for good.

“AI will transform daily life: every firm, community, hospital, school and every aspect of our economy can benefit,” Healey said.

“I understand and share the concerns of working people, so I am setting out a distinctively British approach to AI – one that doesn’t leave workers behind and defends our national interest, while ensuring the benefits of AI-enabled growth are felt right across the country.”

Three months into Burnham’s premiership, Healey is poised to deliver a budget against an increasingly volatile backdrop as the war in the Middle East sends shock waves through the global economy, putting pressure on public finances and reigniting the cost of living crisis.

The chancellor has vowed to use his first budget to provide households and businesses with “breathing space” as the global surge in energy costs triggered by the war hits millions of families this winter. On Friday, the latest tensions in the Gulf sent the oil price to its highest level for six months, rising above $117 a barrel at one point.

However he will also use the opportunity afforded by the critical speech to the Commons to flesh out Burnham’s policy priorities for government after he replaced Keir Starmer this summer, and to spell out a vision for Britain amid the increasingly turbulent global economic outlook.

Aiming to harness the opportunities of AI to raise living standards, back UK businesses and support economic growth, the chancellor said he wanted to seize the opportunities of the technology as a central plank of Labour’s plan for growth.

It comes after official figures show AI investment has helped the UK outperform gloomy economic forecasts as the Iran war pushes up inflation and drags down business confidence, powering the country to the strongest growth performance in the G7 in the first half of this year.

However, there are growing fears over the security of the nation and critical industries as the technology opens up the danger of cyber-attacks, IT systems turning rogue and devastating job losses as companies invest in machines rather than humans.

It comes as websites around the globe went dark this week after a serious vulnerability was found in a computer language used to build much of the world wide web, in a development made possible by rapid AI advances. It also emerged this week that Barclays is cutting 5,000 jobs as part of cost-saving plans identified by bosses as the rollout of AI across the bank helps it make efficiency gains.

Healey said he wanted to use his budget to protect against risks while also nurturing homegrown businesses and talent, in order to cut Britain’s dependency on other countries that were also making strides in AI technology.

New investments would be made in AI chip design capability in Edinburgh, alongside a new AI Centre of Excellence in Manchester that it said would enable the UK to harness the technology’s benefits.

The government would also spend £10m a year to lead the UK’s work on understanding how AI will reshape jobs and industry, aiming to address concerns about potential job disruption.

As part of the plan the Treasury said it would back up to £300m in public-private investment in a new AI Biosecurity Lab, designed to serve as a world-leading institution bringing together scientific expertise to protect people from emerging biological threats.

It comes after the defence secretary, Wes Streeting, warned on Thursday that UK households should make preparations against the mounting risks from weather, cyber or other serious emergencies.

The advice to stock up on supplies to last 72 hours, in a campaign called Be Ready, comes as Silicon Valley bosses sound the alarm over the increasingly existential threats AI could pose, and amid growing official concern over the impact of the climate crisis, technological dependency and hostile state threats.

Dan Jarvis, the security minister, said: “I’m proud the UK has repeatedly been at the forefront of global efforts to use AI for the benefit of humankind.

“Today’s investment will help the UK seize the opportunities AI presents to strengthen our national security, while staying one step ahead of those who seek to use AI to do us harm.”