The boss of Britain’s national institute for artificial intelligence and data science is to leave the organisation later this year.
Dr Jean Innes, CEO of the Alan Turing Institute, announced that she would be resigning from her role to coincide with the completion of the body’s “current transformation programme”.
Her exit comes at a time of serious disarray for the government-funded, non-profit organisation, whose efforts were once dedicated to researching the use of AI in areas such as health, the environment and national security.
But in July, technology secretary Peter Kyle wrote a tense letter to the organisation in which he threatened to pull government funding unless it changed its focus to defence-related projects instead.
In the letter, he suggested that the organisation change its leadership to become a “national security asset” and urged it to work closely with Britain’s “security, defense, and intelligence communities” with defence projects at its “core”.
Previous criticism of its research work led the organisation to announce a plan called Turing 2.0, which has seen it scrap dozens of projects to prioritise health, environment and defence.
However, given that this plan was announced in April and Kyle’s letter was sent this summer, it seems this plan wasn’t up to scratch for the government. And because of this, there have been widespread reports of panic throughout the organisation.
As reported by BBC News, Alan Turing Institute employees last month complained to the Charity Commission that the organisation was subject to a“toxic internal culture” and that it had improperly spent government funding – concerns they feared would lead to its demise.
Despite this, in a statement, Dr Innes described leading the organisation as an “honour” and said leaving the organisation came at the “right time for new leadership”.
She will stay in her role until the end of 2025, by which time the organisation hopes to have found a successor who will be able to help it adhere to Peter Kyle’s recent demands.
Doug Gurr, chair of the Alan Turing Institute, said: “We are now looking for a successor as CEO to drive the next phase of the organisation, ensuring our unique capabilities are used to deliver high-impact work that increases our capacity and expertise in defence and national security, and continues to drive forward exciting innovations in environment and healthcare.”
