Beyond a ban

Happy Monday and welcome to launch day 😄. Thanks so much for all your support so far. The response has been way beyond my expectations with 900 subscribers getting this first briefing.

Happening Today 🗓️

A government consultation on limiting teenagers' social media and AI chatbot use drops at 10:30am and should appear here. Tech secretary Liz Kendall, who is fronting today's announcement, will give a written statement to Parliament. Kendall was also meant to host a roundtable with industry today, but I'm told that has been cancelled because of the strikes in the Gulf. More below.

News In Brief 🩳

Good to know: The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) will publish a plan and spending targets "shortly" on how much tech it buys from SMEs, the department said, in response to a question from Beeban Kidron.

In search of dynamism: The Tony Blair Institute dropped a report over the weekend on restoring long-lost "dynamism" to the UK economy. It recommends AI-powered job-matching platforms, expanding the Global Talent visa to emerging technologies and a "personal transition fund" to retrain workers.

Beyond a social media ban

It's been long-trailed and will be compared to Australia's under-16 social media ban, but the government consultation launched today goes far wider. It is looking at how to restrict children's use of AI chatbots and gaming platforms, alongside social media. Potential steps range from age-verification to less extreme measures like overnight curfews and switching off infinite scrolling and autoplay.

There is overwhelming public support for a ban, but dig a little deeper and it is more nuanced with little faith that it would actually work (see Public First's work on this). Top government officials also think privately a ban is poor policy. In lines which belong in a Thick of It script, one "senior government insider" told The Guardian: "I am sceptical about whether a ban will work, but I am sure we will end up backing a ban."

There are plenty of other policies to tackle social media and chatbot harms, but the politics of it is only going one way and Keir Starmer is in no position to resist his MPs, 60 of whom signed a letter in January in support of a ban.

What to expect

The government is billing it as a “national conversation”. There will be pilots with teenagers to test interventions, while an academic panel will look at the evidence from Australia, which is also going after AI chatbots from next week. DSIT is also announcing "MP-led" community and school events.

But there is little agreement on a way forward, even among civil society groups. Some support a full ban, while others, like the Molly Rose Foundation, want a new Online Safety Act in this May's King's Speech. Technology Secretary, Liz Kendall, meanwhile, has tried to remain neutral and the biggest social media platforms are also hoping to stay out of the public debate.

The consultation closes on May 26th and the government will respond by the "summer". Ministers are confident they can move quickly (barring a change of prime minister, of course), thanks to amendments being made to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill which returns to Parliament next week.

Faking it

MPs also get their first chance in Parliament this afternoon to point out AI-shaped holes in the Representation of the People Bill. It’s designed to modernise elections with votes for 16-year-olds and tougher rules on foreign donations to political parties, but the modernisation only goes so far. It ignores online campaigning, AI deepfakes, disinfo and bots abusing candidates.

Labour MP Emily Darlington is leading the charge to change that, laying up to nine amendments today. “We can’t bury our heads in the sand any longer and pretend that the online world plays no part in our democracy,” she said. 

But ministers' AI harms omissions (see Demos’ briefing) are a deliberate choice rather than an oversight. They want to keep the bill narrow and part of the problem is deepfakes and disinformation sit across loads of legislation. The UK has instead looked at technical solutions, Electoral Commission boss Vijay Rangarajan told MPs in January, including a deepfake detection tool coming ahead of May's elections.

Monday Movers 👩‍💻

This jobs round-up will feature each Monday. Get in touch to tell everyone your career update. 

All change at the TBI: Keegan McBride has taken over as director of science and technology policy at the Tony Blair Institute, replacing Jakob Mökander who has joined General Catalyst. McBride has got four jobs going too. Abby Burke, meanwhile, has left Public First to join Verity Harding’s outfit Formation Advisory as a senior associate. She'll be working on AI ethics and geopolitics. 

Massive job alert: The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology is recruiting for a director general role on AI and Emerging Technologies. That job is currently being done by Ollie Ilott as an interim. 

Right, that’s your lot. Please do share this email with friends and colleagues who may find it useful. No pressure, but my marketing budget is a big fat £0.

Until tomorrow,

Tom