DAILY MAIL COMMENT: AI is not a threat, but a huge opportunity
The fear of machines taking our jobs goes back as far as the invention of the printing press. Spinning jennies, production lines, silicon chips: all were once thought likely to consign vast hordes to unemployment. As recently as March, a startling report predicted the rapid growth of artificial intelligence ( ) would make 300million jobs worldwide obsolete. Yesterday, the consequences of this industrial revolution were illustrated in the starkest way. Telecoms giant BT announced it will cut 55,000 posts, with up to a fifth replaced by AI, which enables computers to learn and solve problems in a 'human' manner. While, of course, deeply upsetting for those receiving P45s, it remains the case that AI can offer huge benefits to society. History has shown that while new technologies remove some jobs, they simultaneously create undreamed-of fields of employment. Notably, every leap forward has been accompanied by economic growth and greater prosperity. Experts believe AI will relieve people of drudge work, letting them learn fresh skills or focus on more complicated tasks something government policies must encourage. And wouldn't an obvious choice for an AI takeover be the bloated civil service? That would cut costs and improve efficiency (as anyone who has spent hours on the phone to HMRC would agree), and Whitehall would again be non-partisan. AI has the potential to improve nearly every aspect of our lives from solving climate change to curing cancer. But we cannot afford to be complacent about its potential dangers, not least hostile forces abusing these powerful artificial minds to put the public at risk. We welcome Rishi Sunak placing Britain at the vanguard of global efforts to regulate this technology, for its development raises profound ethical and social dilemmas. Yet we must see it not as a threat but an epoch-defining opportunity to be grasped. Clearly not content with discharging millions of tons of raw sewage into our rivers and seas, the water firms now pour ordure on to the long-suffering customer. Accompanied by a grovelling apology, they promised to spend 10billion repairing neglected pipes and other infrastructure. Now it emerges the huge cost will actually be added to household water bills. This is despicable. These polluters make obscene profits. They alone should pay for the upgrades and give us a refund! The Mail couldn't put it better than Feargal Sharkey, the ex-rock singer and anti-pollution campaigner: 'We trust them to do the right thing. Instead, they've poisoned our rivers and taken our money.' Semiconductors are the building blocks of modern life, from national defences to transport and mobile phones. If China carries out its threat to invade Taiwan, the global hub for producing this technology, the impact would be devastating. So Mr Sunak is wise to take steps to protect supplies of microchips, including investing 1billion to bolster the UK's superconductor industry. At last, ministers are learning the lessons from the shortages of protective kit during Covid and batteries for electric cars today.Unless we produce our own cutting-edge equipment, Britain's prosperity, safety and security will always be at risk. Tory minister Paul Scully has risked the Whips' Office's wrath by backing our campaign to scrap the 'tourist tax' on foreign shoppers. Why? Cynics say the London mayoral hopeful wants to be seen fighting a policy that is costing countless millions. But maybe he realises, unlike the Chancellor, that pushing big-spending visitors abroad is economic lunacy.