Getting London ready for the AI revolution

Note: The Social Market Foundation has invited all London mayoral candidates to contribute an essay on a policy topic of their choice. To be clear, this does not represent an endorsement of any candidate in the election. The SMF remains strictly cross-party. 

The Musk dystopia

“We are seeing the most disruptive force in history here. There will come a point where no job is needed. You can have a job if you want a job… but the AI will be able to do everything.”

That was the bleak forewarning of billionaire tech pioneer Elon Musk, when he spoke at the first ever AI Safety Summit, held in Bletchley Park last year.

His prediction stems from a belief that we will soon “have a situation where there’s something that is going to be far smarter than the smartest human.”

Elon Musk is both right and wrong.

A game changer 

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a game changer for humanity, that will reshape our future in more ways than we can imagine.

It simulates human intelligence by using rules (algorithms), learning from experience (machine learning), and harnessing lots of data.

Generative AI is an advanced form of artificial intelligence that creates content that seems human-like. It does this by learning from huge amounts of data, often at lightning speed. This form of AI is transforming the world of work.

Chatbots – such as Microsoft-backed Open AI’s ChatGPT – can communicate and respond like a human being. It can write essays, songs, poetry, and even code from text-based instructions.

Launched in November 2022, it reached 100 million monthly active users in just two months. It continues to develop, and is now able to provide responses from real time information.

Other AI programs like DALL-E, can produce images from text.

As AI keeps advancing, then yes, it could become more intelligent than humans in some respects.

The AI co-pilot 

Where I diverge from Elon Musk, is on his doomsday jobs prophecy. Instead of making the world of work redundant, AI can have a largely positive impact on jobs (albeit a turbulent one) that complements and enhances human endeavours.

There’s an old saying, ‘two heads are better than one’. And I happen to think that it’s even better if one is a digital ‘head’ to complement a human.

Just look at the world of aviation, healthcare, or education. All have used technology to great effect. But they also recognise the critical role that humans must play.

I doubt passengers will ever feel comfortable flying without the reassuring presence of highly-trained pilots. Or undergoing surgery without the oversight of a skilled surgeon. Or having their children taught without the accountability of emotionally intelligent teachers.

Like us mere mortals, computers and machines – however sophisticated – are imperfect. They make mistakes. They hallucinate. They can go rogue. They need to be kept in check. And sometimes, overridden.

That’s why the future of work will be one of co-operation and partnership, with AI acting as a personalised co-pilot, making us smarter, more creative, and more productive as workers.

Many Londoners are already harnessing AI technologies with this in mind, using chatbots to streamline customer service, write code, produce rapid research and analyses, optimise traffic flows, or improve medical diagnoses.

In the main, jobs will change and evolve (sometimes dramatically) as a result of greater AI adoption and diffusion. This will place a real onus on policymakers to support people to develop and learn new skills to collaborate effectively with AI technologies.

For many professional service roles in London, AI will automate tasks like data analysis, financial modelling, and legal research, but critical thinking skills and human expertise in decision-making will remain crucial.

Across London’s health services, AI-powered diagnostics and tailored medical treatment can dramatically improve outcomes, but demand for skilled doctors and their careful oversight will remain.

And in the capital’s shops and restaurants, AI-driven automation will automate some aspects of customer service, but human interactions and people skills will still be valued.

Thus AI presents us with a real opportunity to create a better world of work in the capital. But Londoners must feel confident and able to take advantage of this transformational change.

Getting Londoners AI ready 

We should accept that some jobs will disappear completely. One estimate last year found 300 million full-time jobs around the world could be replaced by AI.

Closer to home, the majority of Brits are worried about AI’s impact on their livelihoods, with survey of 1,000 UK adults by PushFar finding nearly six in ten worrying that AI will make their jobs “more easily replaceable”.

Clearly, AI will have a big impact on the labour market and one that London must prepare for. The goal must be to get every Londoner and every business feeling confident and able to harness the full fruits of the AI revolution.

As it stands, workers and citizens are an afterthought, with unions not even invited by the government to the AI Safety Summit. And to date, there have been no meaningful citizens’ assemblies held on the AI revolution and how best to prepare people for it.

In London, the mayor can take a leading role in getting the city ready for the AI revolution, by establishing the first ever People’s Tech Fund, to help Londoners learn AI and other digital skills, and to retrain or upskill in the face of AI driven jobs disruption.

It can also support businesses to adopt AI technologies to drive productivity improvements, particularly smaller and medium sized enterprises – the backbone of London’s economy.

The ability to learn new skills and adapt to changing roles will be crucial for individuals to thrive in the AI-powered future. It’s time for London to get ready.