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

John Healey pledges to use budget to harness power of AI to bolster Britain’s security Chancellor says government to commit hundreds of millions to develop ‘distinctively British’ approach to AI

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.