As anybody who has tried to clear their credit history will attest to, the computer is always right. Even if the final decision ultimately involves human intervention, those involved in decision-making tend to defer to the computer's response. The UK's education system is built around reading and writing and arithmetic to prepare children with the basic skills they need as adults. Is a basic understanding of AI also needed? Tabitha Goldstaub, co-founder of CogX and chair of the AI Council, believes so, especially if the general public are to benefit from any forthcoming regulatory framework.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is thrown into conversations about the future of business tech with increasing frequency. Many enterprises now have programmers beavering away on bespoke algorithms to automate tasks or services, which they hope will give them a competitive advantage. These algorithms are trained on vast data sets and eventually learn how to correctly identify common patterns without human intervention. They take time to design, and they don't come cheap. But that doesn't mean AI is purely for the big beasts of the business world.

The government has unveiled the membership of its first AI Council as it attempts to position the UK as a leader in the burgeoning sector. The panel includes representatives from Google, Microsoft and Amazon, as well as data protection groups, academia and the public sector. "[Our AI Council will leverage] the knowledge of experts from a range of sectors to provide leadership on the best use and adoption of artificial intelligence across the economy," the digital secretary Jeremy Wright (pictured) will say in a speech at Viva Tech in Paris on Thursday (16 May). "Under the leadership of Tabitha Goldstaub the Council will represent the UK AI Sector on the international stage and help us put in place the right skills and practices to make the most of data-driven technologies." It is expected that the council will eventually draw together a wider group of representatives to address issues facing the UK's AI sector, such as data and ethics, adoption, skills and diversity.

In 1988, the US and other nations formed the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to study and respond to consequences of greenhouse gas emissions. In Montreal Thursday, the governments of France and Canada said they will establish a similar group to study and respond to the global changes being wrought by artificial intelligence technology. They say the panel is needed to rein in unethical uses of AI, and minimize the risk of economic disruption such as job losses caused by automation. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced plans for the International Panel on Artificial Intelligence with the French minister for digital affairs, Mounir Mahjoubi. Trudeau has launched several programs to advance Canadian investment in AI in recent years, and said he also wants to lead in considering the technology's potential downsides.

This summer I advised at Acorn Aspirations' Teens In AI Accelerator, which provides young people with a platform to use AI to solve some of the world's biggest problems. In just 10 days, 22 teenagers developed five products which addressed fake news, skin diseases, cancer detection and education, which they then pitched to a panel of judges. Elena Sinel, founder and CEO of Acorn Aspirations and Teens in AI, has identified the educational system's slowness in evolving to keep up with the changes created by AI. To solve this pressing issue, Elena runs hackathons, bootcamps and accelerators, designed to inspire young people aged 12-18 to change the world for the better. I wanted to hear from Elena herself about her mission and what motivates her.

The chief economist of the Bank of England has warned that the UK will need a skills revolution to avoid "large swathes" of people becoming "technologically unemployed" as artificial intelligence makes many jobs obsolete. Andy Haldane said the possible disruption of what is known as the Fourth Industrial Revolution could be "on a much greater scale" than anything felt during the First Industrial Revolution of the Victorian era. He said that he had seen a widespread "hollowing out" of the jobs market, rising inequality, social tension and many people struggling to make a living. It was important to learn the "lessons of history", he argued, and ensure that people were given the training to take advantage of the new jobs that would become available. He added that in the past a safety net such as new welfare benefits had also been provided.

The chief economist of the Bank of England has warned that the UK will need a skills revolution to avoid "large swathes" of people becoming "technologically unemployed" as artificial intelligence makes many jobs obsolete. Andy Haldane said the possible disruption of what is known as the Fourth Industrial Revolution could be "on a much greater scale" than anything felt during the First Industrial Revolution of the Victorian era. He said that he had seen a widespread "hollowing out" of the jobs market, rising inequality, social tension and many people struggling to make a living. He also argued that it was important to learn the "lessons of history" and ensure that people were given the training to take advantage of the new jobs that would become available. He said that in the past a safety net such as new welfare benefits had also been provided.

Demis Hassabis, chief executive of UK-based tech company DeepMind, has been picked to advise the government's newly created Office for Artificial Intelligence. Hassabis (pictured above), who co-founded the Google-owned AI specialist, will "provide expert industry guidance" to the recently formed government body. The Office for AI was created as part of the Industrial Strategy unveiled by the government in November 2017, and has responsibility for delivering the initiatives set out in the £1bn AI Sector Deal published in April. "I'm honoured to be taking on the role of Adviser to the Office for AI, and look forward to the huge opportunity that lies ahead," Hassabis said. "I've always believed that AI could be one of the most important and widely beneficial breakthroughs of the 21st century – and as a proud Londoner, it's fantastic to see the UK's world-class universities and start-ups already making major scientific advances. Alongside the research, I'm very excited about the role the UK can play in making the case globally for AI's safe and ethical deployment."

Imagine an artificially-intelligent smartphone so clever that when we point the camera at a beautiful scene, it will guide us to the best spot to snap a picture, ensuring the lighting, composition, and colors are all perfect. It's a feature that in theory is not too far away. You'll take an amazing picture, but it will likely be exactly the same as photos taken by every other person who stood there and asked their phone to do the same thing. The AI effectively turned us into automatons, sharing beautiful-but-identical cookie-cutter photos. AI is a threat to our creativity and freedom of thought.

In the last few years, gradually, and despite lamentations from the old guard, the world has started to accept the reality of a new economy. Whatever nomenclature one denotes the phenomenon, it is clear that it is here to stay. What is clearer, at least to Charlie Muirhead and Tabitha Goldstaub, is that for the UK to stay ahead of the curve, there is absolutely no time to waste in adapting to Artificial Intelligence. "I've spent 20 years building tech companies," says Muirhead, a serial entrepreneur who has founded a menagerie of distinguished firms, starting when he was just 18. "It's absolutely my passion, I love doing it, and two years ago, we were thinking: 'what's the next opportunity to focus on?' We wanted to make a contribution – something not to make money."