Alan Turing Institute must be rebuilt from ‘ground up’, says think tank – UKTN

The Alan Turing Institute, the UK’s national centre for AI and data science, must be “dismantled and rebuilt from the ground up”, according to a new report.

Think tank the Centre for British Progress has argued that if the institute is to play a “credible role” in support of the UK’s AI, data and national security needs it needs a “complete overhaul” of leadership and governance.

The Alan Turing Institute was founded in 2015 and has received hundreds of millions of pounds of public funding. Despite this, the Centre for British Progress has accused the institute of falling behind the global frontier of AI research.

It argued the institute has spread itself too thin, with focuses ranging from health to the environment to ethics, whilst, according to the report, ignoring defence and national security.

The report comes weeks after Tech Secretary Peter Kyle wrote to the organisation demanding it to shift its focus towards defence and security.

“Moving forward, defence and national security projects should form a core of ATI’s activities, and relationships with the UK’s security, defence, and intelligence communities should be strengthened accordingly,” Kyle wrote.

The Centre for British Progress called for a full replacement of the board of trustees, with priority given to AI, defence and startup leaders. It has similarly called for a chief executive with defence experience.

“The government has finally acknowledged what many in the AI community have long known: the ATI has failed to deliver, and we now need a new model to meet the UK’s strategic needs,” said Ben Johnson, co-author of the report.

A spokesperson from the Alan Turing Institute told UKTN: “We’re shaping a new phase for the institute focused on delivering real-world impact against society’s biggest challenges and will respond to the national need to double down on our work in defence, national security and sovereign capabilities.”

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