Artificial Intelligence: Impact on Human Relationships and Society

Lord McNally Excerpts

Friday 5th June 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord McNally (LD)]

It is always a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Shinkwin, with his thoughtful and perceptive comments on our society. I have now been in the House of Lords for just over 30 years. When I accepted Paddy Ashdown’s invitation to take a nomination to this House in 1996, I genuinely thought that I would be coming here for two or three years before a new Labour Government would sweep away this House of patronage—and then, of course, of inheritance as well. For newcomers, I would not worry too much that this present Labour Government are going to rush, any more than did the 1997 Labour Government. But this does give me, like most people who have been here a long time, a great fondness for this House.

This morning has been a very good example of the House at its very best, as we wrap ourselves in the warm satisfaction of almost total agreement. AI is an ominous problem and it needs action. I have had the pleasure of serving on the Select Committee on Communications and Digital, skilfully chaired by the noble Baroness, Lady Keeley, and I have seen the expertise of that committee on view today from the noble Lord, Lord Tarassenko, and others.

The problem is that outside our cosy glow, there is a battle going on. The Minister is well aware of it, because she is seeking to deal with it womanly—I do not know what the feminine of “manfully” is. The problem is that this AI revolution is now under way, and I fear that there is a kind of paralysis at the heart of the Government at the moment. I see the pressures from the tech departments wanting to grab the benefits of AI that we have heard about and get them quickly forward. We have heard the concerns of many in the creative industries about the capacity of AI to dislodge and, as the noble Lord, Lord Johnson, explained, wipe away whole sections of employment.

My only worry is this. I had a very useful and enjoyable time at University College London, where I studied economic history—as well as student politics. My study of economic history reminds me that, as the noble Lord, Lord Johnson, said very frankly, in times of rapid technological change there will be mass casualties. In the past, Governments and societies have not always been able to handle those rapid changes within any kind of democratic process. That is what I fear we now face.

I was delighted when the most reverend Primate the Archbishop of Canterbury chose this issue for her first debate. When the Pope produced his first encyclical, almost on cue, it made me think that the links between Canterbury and Rome must be closer than we sometimes imagine. At the moment, the machinery of government does not have in place the kind of rapid response to deal with the problems that have been articulated so well today. I hope the Minister will give us some indication that the Government are putting in place a way for our democracy to handle these very difficult problems. If we do not do so, it will be those with the short, easy answers—the populists on both the left and the right—who get popular support for their solutions.