Labour will make AI ‘work for the workers’, says Liz Kendall

Liz Kendall, the technology secretary, claims the government can shape the way AI is adopted. Photograph: Graeme Robertson/The Guardian View image in fullscreen Liz Kendall, the technology secretary, claims the government can shape the way AI is adopted. Photograph: Graeme Robertson/The Guardian Labour will make AI ‘work for the workers’, says Liz Kendall Technology secretary promises to support people whose jobs are swept away by automation Liz Kendall has insisted Labour will make artificial intelligence “work for workers”, and not abandon people whose jobs are swept away by its rapid advance. With public fears mounting about the impact of AI on employment, particularly for young people, the technology secretary claimed that the government could shape the way it is adopted. “We’ve got to make sure AI enhances work: that we help people through the jobs transition, and we’re not like the Tories, who just leave people to cope on their own,” she said. The former leadership contender is rumoured to be vulnerable to being ditched from the cabinet if Andy Burnham wins the Makerfield byelection, ousts Keir Starmer and shifts Labour to the left. View image in fullscreen Liz Kendall highlighted schemes to tackle joblessness among young people. Photograph: Graeme Robertson/The Guardian But before London Tech Week , which will see homegrown firms, US tech companies and policymakers gather in the capital from 8 June, she was keen to set out a distinctly Labour approach to the challenge of AI adoption. Speaking in her office on Whitehall, Kendall said: “For everything that is going on in the world and within my party, every single day this government is making a difference. “It’s up to us, collectively, to choose, to act, to make this in a way that works for Britain; and as a Labour government, to make sure that it works for workers and people living in the most disadvantaged areas, not just a powerful, unaccountable few.” Kendall said she had adjusted the government’s £187m TechFirst AI training scheme, announced last year, so that 40% of the 1 million children it aims to reach will be in disadvantaged schools. And she highlighted the launch of two schemes – in the north-east and north-west of England – to deliver summer skills camps for young people not in education, employment or training (Neets), or at risk of it. These schemes will be delivered in collaboration with businesses and aimed at opening up the opportunity of an apprenticeship. They are very small – 60 places in the north-west initially and 20 in the north-east – but with the expectation of being scaled up. “We will have a national programme to prevent young people who are at risk of becoming Neet, to make sure that they actually get a free summer skills programme that we hope will lead for many to a place on an apprenticeship course,” Kendall said. The north-east scheme, which forms part of government plans for an AI growth zone in the region, is being funded by Labour’s Youth Guarantee , whi