Starmer tells UK to ‘push past’ AI job fears as tech leaders raise alarm

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said it is time to “push past” concerns that AI poses a threat to human jobs — contradicting the concerns of some of tech’s biggest players.

Speaking at London Tech Week today, Starmer called for industry to embed AI throughout the UK economy, from healthcare to education. 

By taking on administrative tasks, Starmer argues that artificial intelligence tools can free up people to focus on the “human work.” For this reason, he said, “AI will make us more human.”  

Starmer’s assertion that AI is not here to replace humans, but to relieve them, is a popular sentiment among AI evangelists, including Microsoft’s Satya Nadella and Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia. 

By taking over the grunt work — such as filling out forms, summarising emails, or analysing spreadsheets — they argue that AI will enable people to do more meaningful work.

However, not all tech ...