Artificial Intelligence: Impact on Human Relationships and Society

Baroness Gill Excerpts

Friday 5th June 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Gill (Lab)]

My Lords, I express my sincere gratitude to the most reverend Primate the Archbishop of Canterbury for bringing this vital topic for debate today. The real impact of AI on our culture is not a theoretical threat to the future; it is a quiet, comfortable surrender of the human mind happening right now in our own living rooms.

I feel a sense of responsibility on this subject. Years ago, I sat in the European Parliament as a rapporteur for e-content, fighting to protect our unique cultural identity. Later, I worked for an IT company, specialising in data analytics. Looking back, we were building the foundational architecture of what we now call AI. In those days, I believed data analytics was a real force for good, and it was. We used data to target and reduce maternal mortality and the spread of AIDS, and to optimise global shipping routes to cut fuel consumption. So I am no Luddite. In another parliamentary report I authored, on elder care, I fiercely advocated for technology such as robotic surgery and smart home aids, to help our elders remain independent, dignified and safe in their homes.

However, we must recognise the fundamental difference between that era of targeted problem-solving and the sweeping algorithmic landscape of today. We are rattling blindly towards a world where we trade our core values for total convenience with Alexa, Google and Apple. Look at our families. We are witnessing the death of domestic conversation and connections. Go into any home today and you will see families who hardly speak to one another because every individual is entirely engrossed in their own isolated, personalised screen. Many have outsourced the mentorship and emotional development of our children.

More profoundly, our deepest spiritual values and religious traditions are under existential threat. Faith and culture rely on shared generational human connection, but an algorithm has no soul. By allowing automated systems to create our morality, we erode the very foundation of our shared values and ethical life.

Why are we letting this happen? No one, let alone a politician, wants to come across as a Luddite, so we walk on eggshells, terrified of appearing anti-progress. The consequence is a direct threat to our democracy and the security we took for granted for decades—that communal violence and disorder did not erupt instantaneously. We had a robust social fabric built on trust.

Look how fragile our society has become. We saw it in Southport, and in the last days we saw it in Southampton. A single piece of AI-amplified fake news, weaponised by algorithms optimised for outrage, shattered our societal consensus in a matter of hours. The damage travels further into politics, directly targeting our children. We are standing by as big tech’s “algorithms of outrage” systematically funnel young, isolated boys down toxic rabbit holes, funnelling them into the arms of mindless aggressors.

Combine that with the rise of harmful sites that actively encourage violence or aid and abet suicides among vulnerable young people, and this is where the role of the Government becomes critical. The UK has favoured an agile sector-by-sector approach, relying on regulators such as Ofcom. Agility is an advantage only if our regulators have teeth.

I ask the Minister to reflect on this. Can we truly expect voluntary codes of conduct to protect the society we have known? Will the Government move beyond mere guidelines and introduce a statutory opt-in right, legally compelling tech companies to let users turn off these toxic recommender algorithms entirely? We must draw a hard line at where automation stops aiding human capability and starts replacing human identity, as in superintelligent AI. Let us ensure that the digital architecture we guide continues to serve human wisdom, rather than automating humanity out of existence. We must fiercely reject an algorithm that replaces a family’s conversation, a community’s trust or citizens’ independent thought.

Years ago, I asked how to distribute digital information. Today, this House must ask how to protect the human soul within it.

King’s Speech

Baroness Gill Excerpts

Thursday 14th May 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Gill (Lab)]

My Lords, yesterday’s gracious Speech set out the Government’s agenda, focused on growth, investment, security and restoring Britain’s standing in the world. It comes at a moment when the country urgently needs honesty about the economic choices that we face and the inheritance that we got from the last Government. I found it rich to listen to the noble Lord, Lord Fuller, because we are correcting the mess that they left us with. The Government deserve credit for recognising that Britain cannot prosper through isolation. Recent trade agreements with India and the Republic of Korea and stronger engagement with the UAE are positive steps that will create opportunities for British businesses.

But we must also level with the public: those agreements are not large enough to compensate for the weakened trade that we have with Europe, our largest market and closest economic partner. For years, the British public were sold a narrative that leaving the European Union would automatically unleash growth and prosperity. Instead, over the last six years, Britain has experienced weaker growth, lower business investment, reduced exports and stagnant productivity compared with many similar economies. The consequences are no longer abstract economic arguments; they are directly felt in people’s lives.

Small businesses that once traded freely across Europe now face customs checks, export paperwork, VAT complications and regulatory barriers that they simply cannot absorb. Food exporters have lost markets. Manufacturers have faced delays and rising supply chain costs. Independent retailers importing goods from Europe have had little choice but to pass increased costs on to consumers, and ordinary families have paid the price: higher food prices, labour shortages, increased transport costs and supply chain disruptions have all contributed to pressures on household budgets during an already severe cost of living crisis. Britain outside the EU has not become more economically dynamic; in many ways, it has become more economically constrained.

This debate is now about more than economics alone. It is about Britain’s place in an increasingly dangerous world. The war in Ukraine has fundamentally changed Europe’s security landscape. Russian aggression has reminded us that peace and stability can never be taken for granted. At the same time, the growing threat posed by Iran through regional destabilisation, proxy conflicts, cyber threats and support for extremist groups demonstrates how interconnected modern security challenges have become. These crises and the threats we face were eloquently articulated by my noble friend Lord Robertson. It is important that this House and the Government take his speech and comments very seriously, because Britain cannot afford strategic isolation in this environment.

Outside the European Union, we are no longer fully integrated into many of the defence, industrial, procurement and strategic initiatives shaping Europe’s future security architecture. That matters not only militarily but economically. Defence procurement, advanced manufacturing, cyber security, energy resilience and technology investment increasingly depend on large-scale European co-operation.

No serious country can confront these challenges alone. Intelligence sharing, sanctions enforcement, energy security, defence manufacturing and technological resilience all require deeper collaboration with our neighbours. The idea that Britain can go it alone in a world shaped by Russian aggression, instability in the Middle East and intensifying global competition is not realism; it is a dangerous illusion.

This is why the debate must move beyond simply managing Brexit towards correcting its long-term consequences. Rebuilding a closer partnership with Europe is no longer optional; it is essential. Ultimately, Britain should be prepared to make the case for rejoining the European Union.

The economic case is overwhelming. Rejoining the EU would restore Britain’s access to the single market and customs union, removing barriers that currently damage trade, investment and growth. It would also strengthen supply chains, restore investor confidence and make exporting easier for British businesses once again.

Independent economic analysis has consistently suggested that closer integration with Europe could increase UK GDP by several percentage points over time, adding tens of billions of pounds to the economy, increasing tax revenues, improving productivity and supporting higher wages and living standards. That would mean lower costs for businesses, cheaper imports for consumers, renewed investment in science and manufacturing, and greater opportunities for creative and young people to work and study across Europe. It would also mean Britain once again helping shape the decisions that affect our continent, rather than standing outside reacting to them.

None of this, I believe, weakens Britain globally; it strengthens us. A Britain with strong European partnerships is more influential with weakening allies such as the United States, more attractive to investors and better able to compete in a rapidly changing world. Yesterday’s gracious Speech acknowledged that Britain needs growth, stability and renewed international leadership. The challenge now is to match that ambition with honesty and courage to admit where mistakes have been made, reject the politics of isolation and pursue a serious new relationship with Europe that restores prosperity and strengthens our security. The greatest danger facing Britain today is not change; it is refusing to change course when the evidence is clear for all of us to see.

UK-EU Customs Union

Baroness Gill Excerpts

Thursday 29th January 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Gill (Lab) (Maiden Speech)]

My Lords, I rise with some hesitation and a great deal of gratitude to make my maiden speech in your Lordships’ House. I am acutely aware of the experience, independence of mind, and breadth and depth of knowledge that surrounds me.

Last Tuesday was a sublime experience for me and my family and friends; I still pinch myself to check that it was real. I am deeply grateful to my supporters, my noble friends Lord Kennedy and Lady Smith, for their guidance and support over many years. I am also grateful for the kindness shown to me by Black Rod’s office, by Mr Ingram and his team of doorkeepers, and by the Reading Clerk, Dr Christopher Johnson. His flexibility in enabling me to take my oath on my mother’s Gutka, a Sikh prayer book—sadly, she passed away just before Christmas—meant so much to me, especially as the first Sikh woman on the Labour Benches.

It has been quite a journey since I left Ludhiana, in Punjab, as a child. With huge support from my family, friends, members of my party and my colleagues at Sikhs for Labour, I have arrived here. My first home was in Southall, a rich, multicultural area that is one of the beating hearts to this day in the London Borough of Ealing—unsurprisingly, given that for many decades it has been a first stop on many migrants’ journey into this land. That was at a time when bussing children out of their locality was the norm, and I ended up at Walford High in Northolt. I give thanks to investments by earlier Labour Governments, and two super teachers who mentored me to go on to further education and to embrace every opportunity that came my way. Hence, Southall is part of my title, as I too want to inspire the present generation of children who are growing up there, and at my old school, that you too can dream and aspire to succeed in whatever walk you choose.

My political home is the West Midlands and it is fitting that that is included in my title too. My love of jewellery is known to many, especially pieces made by our talented artisans. I first came across them in the Jewellery Quarter, thanks to the Birmingham Assay Office, which had concerns about proposals from Brussels that we worked together to mitigate. I moved into Jewellery Quarter soon afterwards, and long before it became hip and one of the best places to live in the country. It was such a rewarding experience, with its wonderful restaurants, cafés and bars, excellent road and rail connections—a perfect example of imaginative inner-city regeneration—that I stayed there for over two decades.

I come here conscious that my experience is only one among many, but I am hopeful that I will none the less be of service to this House in the debates that lie ahead. Over the years, I have been privileged to work in three main areas: housing and regeneration, reducing inequalities, and Britain’s relations with the EU. Having spent my life in public service, though with spells in corporate and tech sectors that left their indelible marks on me, I saw first-hand when I was running a housing association the real difference a good home can make to a person’s life chances in education, health and employment. I am still totally committed to eradicating inequalities in all fields. Today, inequality can be experienced in several ways, including digital inequality. So how we succeed as a society will depend on how data is harnessed and how we manage AI to reduce its impact, including on those in the creative sector.

Brexit cut my tenure of almost 16 years as an MEP short. As it happens, this coming Saturday, 31 January, will be exactly six years after Britain left the EU. How regrettable it is to see the damage inflicted on our economy. I remain a passionate advocate of the project, though my son still reproaches me that I was very much absent when he was growing up. Nevertheless, he has grown up to be a fine young man, working as a creative, as it happens, who cares deeply about his work and society.

Recent international developments have brought us to a turning point in our relations with the EU. Not only is it necessary to rebuild the trust lost in the Brexit years, but trade and defence must be our top priority, given that the world has changed around us and our approach to alliances must do, too. I welcome that this Government have signed a trade agreement with India, as did the EU on Tuesday, which I championed for many years while I was there.

However, as the EU has been faced with new challenges, its instruments and procedures need to evolve accordingly. At the same time, UK-EU relations need to be more ambitious, particularly in the fields of trade, defence and security. Rejoining instruments from another era such as the customs union cannot be the answer. New challenges demand new structures and new models of co-operation.

I look forward to working together with your Lordships in this House in facing today’s challenges and defending nothing less than the cause of a better life for our fellow citizens in a troubled and turbulent world.