UK AI Minister urges state-led AI development to avoid oligarch and tech bro control

Kanishka Narayan, the UK's AI minister, told the BBC's Political Thinking podcast that Britain must build state capability in AI, rather than letting it be ruled by "tech bros and oligarchs." He compared the scale of AI change to the Victorian-era Industrial Revolution, warning the UK must avoid the painful transition experienced then. The government recently used frontier AI models in Whitehall to check for cybersecurity issues, discovering 500 new vulnerabilities for a cost of £13,000. Narayan stressed the need to build domestic technology for international leverage, noting the UK is currently reliant on other countries for essential technology.