AI minister Liz Kendall says she doesn’t use AI at work

Liz Kendall, the cabinet minister in charge of Artificial Intelligence (AI), has revealed she does not use AI in her job.

The Science, Innovation and Technology Secretary this week unveiled a £500m fund aimed at backing British AI firms, which she said was “crucial to our national security and economic prosperity”.

But speaking to me in an AI-powered driverless car, in an interview for BBC Radio 5 Live and Newsnight, Kendall said she only uses the technology in her private life, including after having an allergic reaction to face cream.

A year ago her predecessor, Peter Kyle, unveiled a set of government tools powered by AI, named “Humphrey” after the scheming official from the classic BBC sitcom Yes, Minister.

“No one should be wasting time on something AI can do quicker and better,” he said at the time.

However, his cabinet colleagues are less keen.

“Well, I use AI personally rather than at work, I’ve got to be honest,” Kendall said.

“I’m much more likely to use it in my personal life.”

Government officials, though, were expected to use it.

Kendall said that when she was at the Department for Work and Pensions, staff in job centres were using AI to rewrite CVs for jobseekers, and it could also be used to summarise responses to government consultations.

The New Statesman recently reported, external that “British laws are already being written by AI” but claimed it had been decided not to make the use public.

Kendall rejected the claim, saying: “It’s certainly not written any of my laws that we’re doing around social media and online safety.”

Explaining how she had used AI recently, the Labour MP said: “Do you want to know the last thing I used it for?… I can’t believe I’m about to say this… I got an allergic reaction to something. I’d put on some probably expensive and pointless potion I had to pay to put on my face.

“I got AI to go through the ingredients of all the products. Because you know there’s so many of them really, to identify was there one that was common between the three, and to suggest something I could put on to stop this eczema that had come up.

“I checked the sources, it came from the National Eczema Society, I went to the pharmacist, I asked her for her best cream, she named the same one, I bought it, it worked.”