This week the Prime Minister announced that artificial intelligence would be “unleashed across the UK to deliver a decade of national renewal.” As part of an AI action plan designed by the tech entrepreneur Matt Clifford, tech companies will be given access to NHS data including scans, biodata and anonymised patient records to train AI models, a move which ministers hope will attract billions in American investment and position Britain as an AI superpower. It is a noble goal, but one that seems laughably out of reach considering the proportion of government systems that still partially run on paper or outdated IT systems. Despite trying for more than a decade, the Government’s past attempts to implement a digital overhaul have fallen flat – and critics might suggest this attempt will be no different.
