Artificial intelligence provides exciting opportunities for policymakers and could accelerate a scientific revolution, according to an expert panel at an event at the House of Lords on Wednesday 21 February.
The event, hosted by Baroness Nicola Blackwood, Member of the House of Lords and Chair of Genomics England and Oxford University Innovation, saw speakers raise the possibility of benefits from increased public sector productivity and better government decision making through to advancements in weather prediction, realising the potential of digital twins and life-saving innovations in healthcare.
‘The future of AI in science and government’ event was opened by the CEO of The Alan Turing Institute, Dr Jean Innes, drawing on work carried out during the five years of the Institute’s AI for Science and Government Programme (ASG).
Run in partnership with EPSRC and 200 partners with an investment of nearly £40 million over five years, the aim of the ASG programme was to address some of society’s greatest challenges, ensuring that government can use these revolutionary technologies to improve decision making and policy development.
At the event Viscount Camrose, Minister for AI and Intellectual Property, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology contrasted the web 2.0 rollout, e-commerce and social media, seen at the time as mostly the preserve of private enterprises, with today’s AI revolution where “some of the most exciting opportunities are in healthcare, education and geospatial where the data is sitting in public hands. The opportunities are very considerable.”
Professor Helen Margetts, Director of the Public Policy Programme at The Alan Turing Institute, reassured attendees that while we have rightly heard a lot about the risks associated with AI, society must be optimistic.
“I would exhort policymakers to be excited about the possibilities of AI to improve Government. AI is a technology that has cut through policymakers’ attention like no other and though we’ve heard a lot about the risks particularly since large language models came along, we mustn’t see safety issues as the polar opposite of innovation and believe that we can’t innovate as it’s too dangerous”, said Professor Margetts who is also at the University of Oxford.
The panel and delegates also exchanged viewpoints on opportunities including increased automation in industry through to improving the speed and accuracy of weather forecasting.
Professor Stephen Belcher, Chief Scientist at the Met Office told the audience that AI is a major disrupter in his field citing “great work” resulting from a partnership between the Turing and the Met Office. He contrasted major advances in weather forecasting made over the last 50 years thanks to bigger computers, satellite data and computational models, with similar advances in just two years due to AI. “These [AI models] aren’t there yet, not at the same level of skill and fidelity we can provide at Met Office with our traditional models, but for sure there’s something really big happening”.
Professor Lionel Tarassenko, President of Reuben College and Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Oxford, spoke about the potential for AI to make improvements in health and social care including through making better use of “sovereign asset” NHS datasets and also citing the impact of technology already in use guiding the clinical decisions of doctors and making a real difference to patient outcomes.
Dr Andrew Duncan, Director of Science and Innovation, Fundamental Research at The Turing surveyed the horizon for the next breakthroughs including discussing the interplay between AI and digital twin technology which will help unlock the potential of digital twins across a range of industries and sectors.
Baroness Blackwood, summing up the event said: “We’ve delved into the work of the Turing and their recent excellent work on the ASG programme demonstrating the opportunities of AI to deliver for public benefit.
“We’ve debated questions around productivity, standards, how we get comfortable with opportunity versus risk, how we engage in a national debate and take the public along with us, how we leverage the best talent and the question of equity of access not just nationally but globally.”
Find out more about the vision, achievements, impact and legacy of the Turing’s AI for Science and Government programme.