Labour will make AI ‘work for the workers’, says Liz Kendall

Technology secretary promises to support people whose jobs are swept away by automation

Liz Kendall has insisted Labour will make artificial intelligence “work for workers”, and not abandon people whose jobs are swept away by its rapid advance.

With public fears mounting about the impact of AI on employment, particularly for young people, the technology secretary claimed that the government could shape the way it is adopted.

“We’ve got to make sure AI enhances work: that we help people through the jobs transition, and we’re not like the Tories, who just leave people to cope on their own,” she said.

The former leadership contender is rumoured to be vulnerable to being ditched from the cabinet if Andy Burnham wins the Makerfield byelection, ousts Keir Starmer and shifts Labour to the left.

But before London Tech Week , which will see homegrown firms, US tech companies and policymakers gather in the capital from 8 June, she was keen to set out a distinctly Labour approach to the challenge of AI adoption.

Speaking in her office on Whitehall, Kendall said: “For everything that is going on in the world and within my party, every single day this government is making a difference.

“It’s up to us, collectively, to choose, to act, to make this in a way that works for Britain; and as a Labour government, to make sure that it works for workers and people living in the most disadvantaged areas, not just a powerful, unaccountable few.”