̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - Diane Coyle

Opinion: AI can unlock productivity in public services

lw355 — Thu, 27 Mar 2025 07:00:19 +0000

AI applications have tremendous potential for improving productivity – saving time and money and improving quality of service. Here's what's required to make this work in the public sector, says Diane Coyle.

Major new policy school at Cambridge set to advance ‘good growth’

fpjl2 — Mon, 03 Mar 2025 09:18:50 +0000

The Bennett School of Public Policy opens this autumn, and is already leading work on two of the most pressing policy problems of our time: implementing AI and revitalising post-industrial regions.

Forcing UK creatives to ‘opt out’ of AI training risks stifling new talent, Cambridge experts warn

fpjl2 — Thu, 20 Feb 2025 07:56:32 +0000

̽��ֱ��UK government should resist allowing AI companies to scrape all copyrighted works unless the holder has actively ‘opted out’, as it puts an unfair burden on up-and-coming creative talents who lack the skills and resources to meet legal requirements.

This is according to a new report from ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge experts in economics, policy and machine learning, who also argue the UK government should clearly state that only a human author can hold copyright – even when AI has been heavily involved.

A collaboration between three Cambridge initiatives – the Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy, the Bennett Institute for Public Policy, and ai@cam – the report argues that unregulated use of generative AI will not guarantee economic growth, and risks damaging the UK’s thriving creative sector.

If the UK adopts the proposed ‘rights reservation’ for AI data mining, rather than maintaining the legal foundation that automatically safeguards copyright, it will compromise the livelihoods of many in the sector, particularly those just starting out, say researchers.

They argue that it risks allowing artistic content produced in the UK to be scraped for endless reuse by offshore companies.

“Going the way of an opt-out model is telling Britain’s artists, musicians, and writers that tech industry profitability is more valuable than their creations,” said Prof Gina Neff, Executive Director at the Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy.

“Ambitions to strengthen the creative sector, bolster the British economy and spark innovation using GenAI in the UK can be achieved – but we will only get results that benefit all of us if we put people’s needs before tech companies.”

'Ingested' by technologies

Creative industries contribute around £124.6 billion or 5.7% to the UK’s economy, and have a deep connection to the tech industry. For example, the UK video games industry is the largest in Europe, and contributed £5.12 billion to the UK economy in 2019.

While AI could lead to a new generation of creative companies and products, the researchers say that little is currently known about how AI is being adopted within these industries, and where the skills gaps lie.

“ ̽��ֱ��Government ought to commission research that engages directly with creatives, understanding where and how AI is benefiting and harming them, and use it to inform policies for supporting the sector’s workforce,” said Neil Lawrence, DeepMind Professor of Machine Learning and Chair of ai@cam.

“Uncertainty about copyright infringement is hindering the development of Generative AI for public benefit in the UK. For AI to be trusted and widely deployed, it should not make creative work more difficult.”

In the UK, copyright is vested in the creator automatically if it meets the legal criteria. Some AI companies have tried to exploit ‘fair dealing’ – a loophole based around use for research or reporting – but this is undermined by the commercial nature of most AI.

Now, some AI companies are brokering licensing agreements with publishers, and the report argues this is a potential way to ensure creative industries are compensated.

While rights of performers, from singers to actors, currently cover reproductions of live performances, AI uses composites harvested from across a performer’s oeuvre, so rights relating to specific performances are unlikely to apply, say researchers.

Further clauses in older contracts mean performers are having their work ‘ingested’ by technologies that didn’t exist when they signed on the dotted line.

̽��ֱ��researchers call on the government to fully adopt the Beijing Treaty on Audio Visual Performance, which the UK signed over a decade ago but is yet to implement, as it gives performers economic rights over all reproduction, distribution and rental.

" ̽��ֱ��current lack of clarity about the licensing and regulation of training data use is a lose-lose situation. Creative professionals aren't fairly compensated for their work being used to train AI models, while AI companies are hesitant to fully invest in the UK due to unclear legal frameworks,” said Prof Diane Coyle, the Bennett Professor of Public Policy.

“We propose mandatory transparency requirements for AI training data and standardised licensing agreements that properly value creative works. Without these guardrails, we risk undermining our valuable creative sector in the pursuit of uncertain benefits from AI."

'Spirit of copyright law'

̽��ֱ��Cambridge experts also look at questions of copyright for AI-generated work, and the extent to which ‘prompting’ AI can constitute ownership. They conclude that AI cannot itself hold copyright, and the UK government should develop guidelines on compensation for artists whose work and name feature in prompts instructing AI.

When it comes to the proposed ‘opt-out’ solution, the experts it is not “in the spirit of copyright law” and is difficult to enforce. Even if creators do opt out, it is not clear how that data will be identified, labelled, and compensated, or even erased.

It may be seen as giving ‘carte blanche’ to foreign-owned and managed AI companies to benefit from British copyrighted works without a clear mechanism for creators to receive fair compensation.

“Asking copyright reform to solve structural problems with AI is not the solution,” said Dr Ann Kristin Glenster, Senior Policy Advisor at the Minderoo Centre for Technology and lead author of the report.

“Our research shows that the business case has yet to be made for an opt-out regime that will promote growth and innovation of the UK creative industries.

“Devising policies that enable the UK creative industries to benefit from AI should be the Government’s priority if it wants to see growth of both its creative and tech industries,” Glenster said.

̽��ֱ��UK government’s proposed ‘rights reservation’ model for AI data mining tells British artists, musicians, and writers that “tech industry profitability is more valuable than their creations” say leading academics.

We will only get results that benefit all of us if we put people’s needs before tech companies

Gina Neff

Kal Visuals - Unsplash

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright © ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

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Aim policies at ‘hardware’ to ensure AI safety, say experts

fpjl2 — Wed, 14 Feb 2024 11:28:30 +0000

Chips and datacentres – the “compute” driving the AI revolution – may be the most effective targets for risk-reducing AI policies, according to a new report.

Using AI to tackle society's biggest challenges

cjb250 — Mon, 05 Feb 2024 08:00:28 +0000

̽��ֱ��winners of a new prize supporting ambitious ideas for how artificial intelligence can address critical societal issues are announced today, with projects spanning fertility, climate change, language and communication challenges, mental health, and how local councils deploy AI.

Shadow Science and Technology Secretary discusses AI and innovation during Cambridge visit

ljm211 — Tue, 30 Jan 2024 15:08:23 +0000

̽��ֱ��visit took place at Cambridge Innovation Capital and was hosted by Innovate Cambridge – an initiative which is bringing together partners across the city region to deliver an inclusive future for Cambridge and its science and technology cluster. ̽��ֱ��Shadow Minister met with experts on AI from the ̽��ֱ�� and from industry, discussing both the challenges it presents, as well as the enormous potential for AI to serve science, people, and society.

̽��ֱ��first two sessions of the day were convened by AI@Cam, the ̽��ֱ��’s flagship AI mission which is working to meet the challenges and opportunities of these new technologies as they emerge. At the opening roundtable, academics including Professor Dame Diane Coyle (Director of the Bennett Institute of Public Policy), Professor Neil Lawrence (DeepMind Professor of Machine Learning), and Professor John Aston (Professor of Statistics in Public Life), provided expert analysis on AI policy challenges as well as the role AI can play in public service reform. ̽��ֱ��group discussed how governance systems need to evolve for the AI era, and how an increasingly complex information infrastructure can be managed. In addition, they considered the opportunity that AI presents for improving public services and breaking down siloed decision-making within government.

Mr Kyle took part in a series of ‘flash talks’, focused on areas where research in AI is delivering benefits to society. These included work by Dr Ronita Bardhan, from the ̽��ֱ��’s Department of Architecture, on a new deep-learning model which makes it far easier and cheaper to identify ‘hard-to-decarbonise’ houses and develop strategies to improve their green credentials. Dr Anna Moore presented her work in the Department of Psychiatry, using AI systems to speed up the diagnosis of mental health conditions in children.

In the afternoon, Mr Kyle met with leaders representing civic institutions, academia and business organisations from across the city, including Councillor Mike Davey, Leader of Cambridge City Council, and Andrew Williamson, Managing Partner at Cambridge Innovation Capital. They spoke about their shared vision and strategy for the region to ensure Cambridge remains a globally leading innovation centre, and a collective desire to deliver benefits both locally and across the UK.

̽��ֱ��day concluded with a spin-out and business roundtable at which participants discussed the need for government and the private sector to be active in ensuring AI benefits all parts of the UK, and people are re-skilled as jobs change. Mr Kyle was also interested to explore how the UK can become a more attractive place to scale companies. Key considerations included the need to improve access to talent, capital and infrastructure, as well tackling the regulatory barriers which can make the UK less competitive.

Peter Kyle MP, the Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, met academics from the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and leaders from the Cambridge community for a day focused on AI policy and innovation.

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Services across England now lag far behind East Germany, as experts call for ‘universal basic infrastructure’ in UK

fpjl2 — Tue, 05 Dec 2023 10:34:16 +0000

A new report outlines the dismal state of England’s physical and 'social' infrastructure – from public services in health and education to the parks, cinemas and train stations that prop up communities – when compared to similar regions in what was once East Germany.

̽��ֱ��report’s authors call for a “universal basic infrastructure” (UBI) if the UK is to ‘level up’ its regions and lift itself out of 'flatlining' productivity rates. This UBI would see a minimum level of public and private sector services covering everything from broadband to bus routes.

Researchers matched eleven parts of England such as Manchester and Peterborough with German areas close in population and productivity, primarily in the former Soviet bloc – as this region was a central case study in the UK government’s flagship 2022 ‘Levelling up’ White Paper.

̽��ֱ��report, led by the Bennett Institute for Public Policy at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, found that in 2021, German towns, cities and regions have on average twice as many hospitals and pharmacies per 100,000 people as their English counterparts.

Places in Germany have over 11 times more mental health centres and practitioners, and eight times more further education providers, than equivalent parts of England, according to 2021 data.*

In 2020, German areas also have twice as many railway stations per 100,000 people as matching English areas, although England averages almost four times more bus stops than Germany.

“Access to physical and social infrastructure across England is highly variable, and shortfalls in provision affect both declining and growing areas,” said report co-author Professor Diane Coyle from Cambridge ̽��ֱ��’s Bennett Institute for Public Policy.

“But even England’s wealthier areas are falling short of equivalent places in Germany, and have seen notable declines in a wide range of types of infrastructure over much of the last decade.”

̽��ֱ��report shows that areas such as Cambridge and Manchester have more healthcare facilities per 100,000 people, for example – as well as more banks, museums and restaurants – compared to areas such as Bolton, Rochdale and Stevenage.

In fact, Cambridge, one of the country’s wealthiest locations outside of London, has over twice as many banks and building societies, on average, and over six times as many further education providers, as Oldham, Central Bedfordshire and Rochdale.

However, the team also found that many elements of “social infrastructure” right across all eleven English areas have tumbled since 2014, regardless of regional wealth and average rates of income.

̽��ֱ��availability of public transport, GP practices, hospitals, mental health care, police stations, banks, cash machines, post offices, primary and further education facilities, theatres, swimming pools, museums, shopping centres, and chemists have declined across almost all English areas analysed in the report.

All local authorities analysed in the report reduced at least one type of health service between 2014 and 2023. For example, Blackpool, Central Bedfordshire, Stevenage and Stoke-on-Trent all decreased their number of clinics, GP practices, hospitals, and dental treatment centres.

Even in Cambridge the number of further education facilities per 100,000 people halved between 2014 and 2023, and GP practices per capita fell by over 14%.

̽��ֱ��number of police stations per capita fell in all places except Bolton, and the number of public parks and gardens reduced in four out of the five areas with data. Contrary to public perception, however, the number of libraries increased across most authorities in the report.

“Universality across the nation is key when it comes to the infrastructure that facilitates most aspects of our daily lives,” said report co-author Stella Erker from Cambridge ̽��ֱ��’s Bennett Institute for Public Policy.

“ ̽��ֱ��community assets we should all have access to, not just schools and doctors but parks, trains, pubs and gyms, are the foundation for human wellbeing, which in turn underpins economic growth.”

̽��ֱ��researchers point out that even rapidly expanding places in England are seeing social infrastructure go in the opposite direction – an impediment to desperately needed house-building.

For example, Bedford sits in the ‘Ox-Cam-Arc’ – an economic boom region encompassing Oxford, Cambridge and London – and is growing at three times the national rate, expanding by nearly 18% between 2011 and 2021.

Yet the town has seen local services weaken, with reductions per capita in everything from bus stops and rail facilities to GP capacity, primary schools, and local banks and cashpoints, since 2014.

̽��ֱ��report calls for “provision presumptions”: thresholds at which existing services cannot be reduced. Coyle, Erker and their co-author Prof Andy Westwood from the ̽��ֱ�� of Manchester argue that a minimum UBI level should be tied to an area’s population growth.

Added Westwood: “Achieving a minimum level of universal basic infrastructure is an ambitious but necessary goal if we want to create economic opportunity across the country. It would prevent the current ‘postcode lottery’, and serve as a catalyst for growth in ‘left behind’ areas, as well as places that are growing rapidly but too often without adequate infrastructure and services.”

Full list of towns, cities and areas analysed in report as follows:
England: Bedford, Blackpool, Bolton, Cambridge, Central Bedfordshire, Manchester, Oldham, Peterborough, Rochdale, Stevenage, Stoke-on-Trent.
East Germany: Bautzen, Cottbus, Erfurt, Halle an der Saale and Rostock. ̽��ֱ��report also used data from Hagen in the Ruhr, a post-industrial town in the west of Germany.

*In 2021, German places averaged at 45 mental health centres and practitioners per 100,000, compared to 4 in English places. In 2021, German places averaged at 14 further education providers per 100,000 population, compared to 2 providers in the English places.

Per capita access to hospitals, mental health services, and further education facilities in German towns and cities – primarily in the former GDR – now outstrip equivalent areas in England, often several times over, according to research.

Even England’s wealthier areas are falling short of equivalent places in Germany

Diane Coyle

Bjoern Wylezich/Getty

Intercity 2 train at Warnemünde station in Rostock, one of the parts of eastern Germany look at in the report.

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright © ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – as here, on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

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UK needs AI legislation to create trust so companies can ‘plug AI into British economy’

fpjl2 — Mon, 16 Oct 2023 06:20:05 +0000

̽��ֱ��British government should offer tax breaks for businesses developing AI-powered products and services, or applying AI to their existing operations, to 'unlock the UK’s potential for augmented productivity', according to a new ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge report.

Researchers argue that the UK currently lacks the computing capacity and capital required to build 'generative' machine learning models fast enough to compete with US companies such as Google, Microsoft or Open AI.

Instead, they call for a UK focus on leveraging these new AI systems for real-world applications – such as developing new diagnostic products and addressing the shortage of software engineers – which could provide a major boost to the British economy.

However, the researchers caution that without new legislation to ensure the UK has solid legal and ethical AI regulation, such plans could falter. British industries and the public may struggle to trust emerging AI platforms such as ChatGPT enough to invest time and money into skilling up.

̽��ֱ��policy report is a collaboration between Cambridge’s Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy, Bennett Institute for Public Policy, and ai@cam: the ̽��ֱ��’s flagship initiative on artificial intelligence.

“Generative AI will change the nature of how things are produced, just as what occurred with factory assembly lines in the 1910s or globalised supply chains at the turn of the millennium,” said Dame Diane Coyle, Bennett Professor of Public Policy. “ ̽��ֱ��UK can become a global leader in actually plugging these AI technologies into the economy.”

Prof Gina Neff, Executive Director of the Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy, said: “A new Bill that fosters confidence in AI by legislating for data protection, intellectual property and product safety is vital groundwork for using this technology to increase UK productivity.”

Generative AI uses algorithms trained on giant datasets to output original high-quality text, images, audio, or video at ferocious speed and scale. ̽��ֱ��text-based ChatGPT dominated headlines this year. Other examples include Midjourney, which can conjure imagery in any different style in seconds.

Networked grids – or clusters – of computing hardware called Graphics Processing Units (GPU) are required to handle the vast quantities of data that hone these machine-learning models. For example, ChatGPT is estimated to cost $40 million a month in computing alone. In the spring of this year, the UK chancellor announced £100 million for a “Frontier AI Taskforce” to scope out the creation of home-grown AI to rival the likes of Google Bard.

However, the report points out that the supercomputer announced by the UK chancellor is unlikely to be online until 2026, while none of the big three US tech companies – Amazon, Microsoft or Google – have GPU clusters in the UK.

“ ̽��ֱ��UK has no companies big enough to invest meaningfully in foundation model development,” said report co-author Sam Gilbert. “State spending on technology is modest compared to China and the US, as we have seen in the UK chip industry.”

As such, the UK should use its strengths in fin-tech, cybersecurity and health-tech to build software – the apps, tools and interfaces – that harnesses AI for everyday use, says the report.

“Generative AI has been shown to speed up coding by some 55%, which could help with the UK’s chronic developer shortage,” said Gilbert. “In fact, this type of AI can even help non-programmers to build sophisticated software.”

Moreover, the UK has world-class research universities that could drive progress in tackling AI stumbling blocks: from the cooling of data centres to the detection of AI-generated misinformation.

At the moment, however, UK organisations lack incentives to comply with responsible AI. “ ̽��ֱ��UK’s current approach to regulating generative AI is based on a set of vague and voluntary principles that nod at security and transparency,” said report co-author Dr Ann Kristin Glenster.

“ ̽��ֱ��UK will only be able to realise the economic benefits of AI if the technology can be trusted, and that can only be ensured through meaningful legislation and regulation.”

Along with new AI laws, the report suggests a series of tax incentives, such as an enhanced Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme, to increase the supply of capital to AI start-ups, as well as tax credits for all businesses including generative AI in their operations. Challenge prizes could be launched to identify bottom-up uses of generative AI from within organisations.

Legislating for AI safety and transparency will allow British industry and education to put resources into AI development with confidence, argue researchers.

̽��ֱ��UK can become a global leader in actually plugging these AI technologies into the economy

Diane Coyle

Getty/BlackJack3D

Data Tunnel

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright © ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – as here, on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

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