The UK Government and AI sector must work together to improve public understanding and digital literacy around AI, bridging the digital divide and promoting the positive potential of AI while mitigating fears about its risks.

With AI becoming more integrated into daily life, public understanding of AI technology is increasingly important. There is a significant digital divide in the UK and this divide is greatest between the South-East tech bubble and the rest of the UK nations and regions. Recent research has shown that the majority of UK adults hold a negative view of AI: indifferent, anxious or hostile. National new stories focus on the negative outcomes: AI causing job losses, AI enabling cheating in schools, AI as a threat to humanity. Whilst the AI Safety Summit in 2023 was important in bringing together governments and industry leaders, it also fed the negative narrative, by focusing on ‘existential threats’.

The Government has an important role to play in creating a positive perception of AI and increasing digital literacy and skills, across all parts of the UK. Policies that promote AI literacy can help citizens understand what AI is and its positive potential, as well as helping them understand how to mitigate some of the threats, particularly around privacy, enabling them to participate in discussions around the role of AI in society.

The AI sector also has an interest in building public awareness and confidence in AI based tools and services. UKAI acknowledges that there are significant threats and dangers and that the AI sector needs oversight and regulation. However, we remain optimistic that AI companies and technologies will primarily be a force for good, both for the economy and for society. UKAI believes that businesses should work in partnership with the Government to make this case, by highlighting successes, delivering positive outcomes (e.g. in healthcare) and continuing to focus on widespread training and upskilling.

UKAI campaigns for better understanding and more accurate description of AI technologies and what ‘AI’ is. For example, it is not always helpful to lump all of the different AI businesses together under one label. Whilst most people are now aware of ChatGPT, it is often conflated with ‘AI’. Concerns about ‘existential threats’ are relevant to discussions about General AI (GAI) whilst the work that AlphaFold is doing to develop new drugs based on proteins discovered by deep-learning, is something that could benefit all of humanity. UKAI works closely with leaders across the AI sector to better explain and champion the very different parts of the industry, highlighting their benefits and opportunities.