The UK's new AI Minister Kanishka Narayan. Image: UK Parliament
All eyes were on Andy Burnham’s new cabinet picks as he assumed office yesterday as the UK’s newest Prime Minister. AI got its own seat for the first time.
As new UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham entered No. 10 for the first time yesterday, it was clear that this would be a new cabinet, not a cabinet reshuffle. Technology and Science got a do-over at cabinet with responsibilities changing hands and newly created portfolios.
Notable was the importance given to AI with a new AI minister, Kanishka Narayan being handed a seat at cabinet for the first time. Burnham also dissolved the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), merging it with the Department for Business and Trade, under the auspices of Jonathan Reynolds, who previously led the latter.
Until now part of the DSIT remit, digital transformation and online safety will now come under the auspices of the Department of Culture. Most notable however is the clear importance being given to AI, with its own seat at cabinet in the new Burnham government. Narayan had previously held the post of Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the DTIS.
