Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that the adoption of AI technologies in business does not lead to the loss of employment opportunities.

The spread of AI across all sectors of society and the economy presents a huge economic opportunity for the UK, as well as posing significant challenges to the contemporary world of work, including through changing the nature of work or the automation of some tasks.

AI has the potential to be a net creator of jobs and have a positive impact on economic growth - the World Economic Forum concluded in October 2020 that while AI would likely take away 85 million jobs globally by 2025, it is also likely to generate 97 million new jobs in areas such as data, machine learning and digital marketing. More broadly, AI in the workplace has the potential to free workers from monotonous tasks like inputting data or filling out paperwork, allowing them to spend more time on creative and meaningful activities.

By increasing resilience, productivity, growth and innovation in the economy, the Government is taking action to make sure the workforce can take advantage of the potential of AI. This will be enabled through the government's focus on ensuring that the system can adapt to deliver upskilling, reskilling and the appropriate skills that learners need for the AI-enabled workplaces of the future.

For example, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology delivers a range of digital skills provision to support people to enter the tech workforce, including through the AI Conversion Course programme. The Department for Education is working with key partners and stakeholders to better understand the impact and opportunity of AI on skills requirements and education delivery and has put out a call for evidence to this effect. The Lifelong Loan Entitlement, due to launch by 2025, will ensure the UK is the first country in the world to have a fully scaled lifelong learning system, allowing for the upskilling and reskilling required by an ever changing jobs market.

Whilst we want to best harness the growth potential of AI, this should not be at the expense of employment rights and protections for workers – on which this Government has a strong record. Our AI Regulation White Paper, published in March, set out our plans to drive responsible and safe innovation. Where AI might challenge someone’s human rights in the workplace, the UK has a strong system of legislation and enforcement of these protections, using both state and individual enforcement through specialist labour tribunals.

And where people do face disruption to the sector they work within, the Department for Work and Pensions has a wide range of support available, which will complement skills provision, and provide routes for job hunters including to access the higher-skilled, higher-paid jobs that AI creates.