Tony Blair Should Stop Fueling the AI Hype Now
The former premier’s consultancy-style institute is making unhelpful claims about what AI can actually do.
Tony Blair speaks during the 'Future Of Britain' conference in London last week.
Photographer: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images EuropeWith the world mired in confusion about how useful the AI boom really is, an odd contribution has come from Britain’s former prime minister, Tony Blair. Days after the Labour Party he once led returned to power, his Tony Blair Institute for Global Change hosted an AI-focused conference on the future of Britain, where he urged Keir Starmer’s new government to embrace AI as the “biggest technological revolution since the Industrial Revolution.” But look closely: Blair’s platitudes sound like consultancy speak, and his claims that 40% of UK public-sector work could be done by AI came from a dubious source: ChatGPT.
Blair has essentially gone full throttle into keeping the hype alive for a technology that businesses are grappling with on utility, cost and misinformation. That is unhelpful at a time when tech firms desperately need to get better at managing expectations about AI. It also does a disservice to Britain’s public sector. Why, for instance, would a university graduate want to be an administrator with the National Health Service (NHS) if the former prime minister has just said that 40% its tasks could be automated?