As he eased back in his seat more than 30,000 feet above the dark blue waters of the deep Atlantic, Sir Keir Starmer was clear about the risk-laden decisions ahead. At the forefront of the Prime Minister’s mind, as his plane sped towards New York for a United Nations General Assembly meeting, was the daunting challenge of how to defeat Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine, which military experts say threatens to escalate, escalate and escalate further. Given the gravity of the situation, he could have been forgiven for being tense, flustered and on edge. But briefed by his senior No 10, Foreign Office and defence officials, and with his security detail nearby, his calm determination for Putin to fail was palpable.
The conflict, the bloodiest in Europe since the Second World War, has seen rapid adoption of new technologies such as drones and has further fuelled worries in Western capitals about the dangers of even faster-evolving artificial intelligence falling into evil hands. Amid this increasingly volatile and dangerous world, Starmer hails London’s reputation as a beacon “for the rule of law”, as well as its “entrepreneurial spirit” as he backs the capital to “grasp the nettle of AI” to develop it for the good of humankind. As a London lawyer and then MP, he has seen over the years how “change and innovation run deep in the veins of this brilliant city”, attributes which may be critical for it to now seize the crown as the global leader in AI.
Twelve weeks into his premiership, Starmer is clearly, some would say surprisingly, at ease in his role as PM, whether it is welcoming world leaders, hosting high-level meetings to push ahead with the Government’s growth agenda and tackle crime, or talking to officials and journalists. He is more self-confident than as opposition leader, almost relaxed and not yet weighed down by the burden of high office which so quickly aged many of his predecessors. However, the “clothesgate” row — about Starmer, Chancellor Rachel Reeves and deputy leader Angela Rayner receiving thousands of pounds of free clothes and other gifts from wealthy donors — is damaging for the Government. As the row simmers on, Starmer’s short-lived political honeymoon is now over.
In the City, financial chiefs have warmly welcomed the outbreak of political and economic stability after the chaos of recent Tory administrations. However, many remain sceptical over whether Labour can deliver its ambitious reforms for the economy. So, to boost living standards and drive economic growth, a game-changer may well be needed.
AI appears to offer the most promise, according to experts, to greatly increase productivity in workplaces, deliver groundbreaking new treatments for cancer and other conditions, personalise education for every student, help to build better defences and security, and give people more free time to enjoy life.
Starmer believes London can spearhead this new era, having developed from one of the world’s leading financial centres to be the global fintech capital and now already at the forefront of some new AI technologies.
“London is the best capital city on earth and it stands on the foothills of a productivity revolution, powered by AI,” the Prime Minister told The London Standard. “The benefits are plain to see, and we are already reaping the rewards, but we can go further.”
He outlined how artificial intelligence is predicted to alter so fundamentally many aspects of our lives: “We can build a future where AI drives growth, raises living standards, puts money into people’s pockets, creates wealth, transforms industries and strengthens our position on the global stage.
“With a Labour government on its side, we can make London the AI capital of the world,” he added, with the Government and London Mayor Sadiq Khan now no longer knocking lumps out of each other as had happened with previous Tory administrations. The Conservatives targeted Starmer, trying to portray him as part of what they described as an out-of-touch north London elite. But the PM makes clear his pride in his constituency of Holborn and St Pancras, which he has represented since 2015, and in how the capital is attracting so many AI businesses; there were 1,204 AI start-ups in London by spring this year, two-thirds of the total for the UK.
“Yes, there are [AI] challenges to face, but the opportunities to drive growth, create wealth, attract investment and put more money in people’s pockets are endless. Industry is already calling the UK the third best place on the globe for AI start-ups, and rightly so. Major global firms, like Amazon Web Services, Microsoft and Google, have already invested £10 billion in infrastructure to support AI in London, and, indeed, in my own constituency.”
I know exactly why people come to London. the history, the culture, the football, I could go on
Worryingly, the race to develop potentially all-powerful AI has taken on even more importance as the world’s rules-based system comes under growing threat from Putin, Chinese president Xi Jinping’s increasingly authoritarian regime, and to a lesser extent North Korea and Iran. As to be expected from a lawyer, Starmer proclaims Britain’s reputation for the rule of law — which leads so many of the world’s well-heeled to hot-foot it to London’s courts to fight legal battles — as one reason attracting tech firms to the city.
“Top AI companies such as Anthropic and OpenAI have chosen to locate their European headquarters in London for our talent, expertise and hunger for success. And why wouldn’t they? The UK has the world’s best graduates, respect for the rule of law, and, importantly, now has the much-needed political stability that business needs to thrive.” Starmer is effusive in his celebration of the city and why its way of life attracts so many. “I’ve represented Holborn and St Pancras since 2015, I know exactly why people and companies want to come here. The parks, the history, the culture, the football clubs, I could go on.”
It also seems that Londoners are ready to embrace AI in a way possibly not seen in the world’s other leading capital cities. For Vishal Marria, chief executive and founder of Waterloo-based AI unicorn Quantexa, “2023 was the year of demystifying AI” for many companies, government departments and other organisations.
“But 2024 has been the year of operationalising it”, as they are now increasingly incorporating artificial intelligence into their systems and operations. “Being a Brit, born and brought up here in London, I’m seeing AI becoming more mainstream, more topical than any city that I go to,” Marria says.
We can build a future where AI raises living standards and puts money into people’s pockets
So, is London really going to be a global leader of the pack for AI development? Professor Geraint Rees, vice-provost for research, innovation and global engagement at University College London, thinks it’s in with a chance. He shares many of the Prime Minister’s views on AI. In particular, he cites the AI “ecosystem” with world-class universities including UCL, Imperial College and King’s College London, the tech giants, the start-ups, the spin-offs, the “huge reservoir of talent” and investment capital.
“It’s at the stage where the level of talent means we are highly competitive in Europe with other major centres, like, for example, Paris. So long as we get the continuing development of this ecosystem right I think we are in a really strong position to be one of, if not the most, important places in the world for this kind of activity,” Rees explains.
Marria agrees. “From a London perspective, we have some of the greatest universities around the world, we have a vibrant ecosystem of diversity and thought-leadership, either homegrown talent or international talent that have made our great city their own home, and we have also seen a vibrant and fast-thinking financial services industry. London, the UK, has many of the amazing ingredients when it comes to being a world-class capability [in AI]. We sit on a potential bed of huge prosperity.” Machine learning has been around for decades, explains Marria, who got a first in his computer science degree at Royal Holloway, University of London, but it is the advent of the large language models in recent years which has been so transformational.
Yet so many people still fear AI, probably as they remain unclear as to how it will be employed in companies. To help “demystify” artificial intelligence, Rees sums it up thus: “Most people think AI is the demonstration of intelligent-like behaviour by computer systems, whether they are an algorithm on your computer or they might be an intelligent robot acting with you”, though he makes clear it’s much more complex than that.
As for whether AI can “think”, he says the “consensus” in the tech community is that it cannot do so yet. ChatGPT and similar models analyse vast amounts of text and can detect word structures and what words are more likely to follow each other, which enables them to draw up reports on requested topics.
Multimodal models can fuse information about pictures and text, so can turn a description in words into a picture or video. The upsides of AI appear almost limitless but an existential threat to mankind and the world’s destruction is the armageddon scenario of it spiralling out of control or being captured by twisted minds. Britain responded to this threat, with the then prime minister Rishi Sunak hosting the AI safety summit at Bletchley Park, the once top-secret home of the Second World War codebreakers near Milton Keynes, last autumn.
Summit attendees — who included Twitter (now X) boss Elon Musk, chief executives from AI giants including Google Deepmind’s Demis Hassabis and Sam Altman, of ChatGPT creator OpenAI, US vice-president Kamala Harris and other world leaders — discussed AI’s “potential to transform and enhance human wellbeing, peace and prosperity”.
But they also spoke about threats posed by “frontier” artificial intelligence, the most cutting-edge developments but often least understood.
Taking forward this debate to strike a balance between safety and opportunities, Science Secretary Peter Kyle announced last week that the UK will host a conference with tech developers in Silicon Valley in November on AI risks. Seismic breakthroughs in artificial intelligence were expected by top scientists in Whitehall to already be transforming society this summer.
It just takes a Government that’s willing to be bold and seize the opportunities that AI presents
However, many companies, Whitehall departments and other organisations are still scrambling to work out how they can best use AI to develop products, shape services, reform work practices and train up their staff, with all the legal, technical and ethical challenges. Given the thirst to learn more, AI summits are popping up in London offering to spread knowledge in this race into the future.
But there is nervousness, certainly in parts of government, about how best to adopt AI.
“Unlike with the digital transformation we saw in Whitehall, when the state was playing catch-up with the private sector, the latest AI innovations aren’t yet widely adopted across many large businesses either,” says a new Digital Leaders Study 2024 by the Global Government Forum and IT firm Cognizant, which interviewed senior AI, digital, data and technology chiefs in Whitehall.
It added: “There’s much more limited best practice to copy from and risks are therefore greater … Despite these valid concerns, government has to scale up AI and do so quickly; the opportunities are simply too vast to pursue a path of delay.”
Kevin Cunnington, ex-director general of the UK’s Government Digital Service, who played a key role in drawing up the report on government and AI, said: “We can improve, and improve fast. It just takes a government that’s willing to be bold and seize the opportunities that AI presents.”
Splits at the heart of No 10, with clashes between chief of staff Sue Gray and Cabinet Secretary Simon Case, may hamper swift decision-making — though Case is expected to leave his post shortly. And with the new prime minister at the helm, change is in the air in government, as it is in the capital.
“London is undergoing a profound change,” says Starmer. “The Old Street roundabout is nearing completion, Arsenal are back in their rightful place as the capital’s top team, and the Evening Standard has moved to a weekly edition. As every Londoner knows, change and innovation run deep in the veins of this brilliant city, and have been key to its success.”
