AI could be an extraordinary force for good. So why do our politicians still not have a plan?

‘Harding’s approach demands vision and confidence from politicians at a time when many are wary of challenging the tech industry.’ Composite: Guardian Design/Getty Images/PA

Four weeks ago in San Francisco’s Chinatown, an empty self-driving taxi was mobbed and set on fire. It’s still not clear whether the crowd attacked the Waymo robot car – billed as “the future of transportation” – out of some broader irritation with a Californian tech elite seen as threatening jobs, anger over autonomous vehicles causing accidents, or just because it blundered into the middle of crowds celebrating lunar new year.

But either way, understanding how people really feel about the rapid advance of potentially dystopian technologies seems more urgent than it did, in a week that saw British parliamentarians debating the introduction of self-driving cars on British streets, while Jeremy Hunt announced funding for police to use drones as first responders to some 999 calls.