UK is ill-equipped to protect workers against pitfalls of AI

Rishi Sunak will gather world leaders in London this autumn for a summit on safety in artificial intelligence, after expressing concern about the "existential risks" of the rapidly evolving technology. Apparently, even our wannabe tech bro prime minister – currently holidaying in California – is willing to acknowledge the potential need for state intervention to prevent AI going rogue. But away from the level of jet-setting diplomacy, his government has been notably less keen on scrutinising the dramatic transformation already being wrought in many people's working lives by digital technologies. A new report on "connected tech" published by the culture, media and sport select committee underlined the immense potential of the so-called "fourth Industrial Revolution" for a wide range of sectors. But it also pointed to the risks for individual workers, where aspects of their job are automated out of existence, or they find themselves so closely monitored that they lose any sense of autonomy.