If Andy Burnham doesn’t deliver economic growth as prime minister, his honeymoon period will be very short indeed. You’d think, then, his people would have something positive to say about one of Britain’s brightest prospects for the future: its tech sector.

However, that’s not the impression given in comments made to the Financial Times this week by an unnamed adviser. We’re told that “Burnham’s team is planning to revamp the UK’s AI strategy.” According to the FT, they want to pivot “away from what they claim is a US-centric model” pushed by Peter Mandelson.

Any Mandelson involvement is obviously unfortunate, but to whom exactly do Burnham’s advisors want Britain to pivot? Together, the US and China dominate global AI, accounting for approximately 90% of the world’s computing power and 75% of its AI investment. Further to this, 40 of the world’s most important AI models in 2024 came from America, 15 from China and just three from the whole of Europe.

While talking about domestic capabilities is admirable, the investment and expertise for developing AI technology at home will have to come from somewhere. And while the US tech giants aren’t the only option, most of the alternatives are ultimately controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. Anti-Americanism is not a luxury we can afford.

The good news is that, by some counts, the UK’s AI market is the third-biggest in the world — though a long way behind China and America. The latest figures show that Britain also has the third-highest number of “unicorn” businesses, and other advantages include its language, its time zone, its universities and the City of London. Added to this is the fact that Britain is not held down by the regulatory burden of the EU, which still labors under the illusion that Europe can regulate its way to tech sovereignty.

But Britain’s potential will be wasted without a government willing to embrace it, which is why negative briefings from his team on AI won’t help anyone. Consider, for instance, the comment made that “unfettered tech boosterism is a vote loser”. This is hard to believe. How much of Labour’s lost support since the last election is down to Keir Starmer’s relentless promotion of the machine god?

Amazingly, that wasn’t the most ridiculous opinion shared with the FT. Rather, that was reserved for one of the most promising applications of AI: fully automated vehicles such as Waymo. London is currently leading most of Europe in trialing these cars, but the FT’s source was skeptical: “What’s the point and who’s it for?” The point is to give Britain a stake in one of the most transformational technologies of the 21st century. That’s before we get to the immense economic opportunities that will come to those countries that actively welcome the driverless car.

Yet Team Burnham thinks we need a “plan for dealing with the constituency of people that will be impacted by their introduction, including black cab drivers and Uber drivers”. One wonders whether the British governments of the early 20th century had a plan for the blacksmiths, saddlers and coaching inns impacted by the introduction of the horseless carriage. Or did a free economy find a million ways to adapt and prosper?

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Peter Franklin is Associate Editor of UnHerd. He was previously a policy advisor and speechwriter on environmental and social issues.

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