Tom Watson, Shadow Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, commenting on the AI sector deal, said:

“AI presents huge opportunities for the UK and it’s important that the Government is taking it seriously. However, AI also carries risks of job losses and ethical concerns surrounding decisions made by automated processes that could affect our citizens’ lives.

“Government has a responsibility to seize the opportunities while carefully managing the consequences of AI. We need to see more evidence from them that they are thinking about the latter.

“We also need to address major issues with our digital infrastructure. At the moment we are far behind many of our European neighbours on connectivity and broadband speeds. We’re in the international slow lane and its holding our digital businesses back.”