UK government to hire chief AI officer
The UK civil service is looking to hire a government chief AI officer for the first time, in a move that builds on a trend to embed the role in public administrations worldwide.
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) has confirmed to Global Governemnt Forum that the department would begin advertising the role shortly.
It said that the “scope, responsibilities, and salary” were all currently undergoing “the necessary approval processes”.
A LinkedIn post from the government’s recruitment partner described the search for a CAIO – the most senior AI leadership role in the UK public sector – as a “landmark” move, and the successful applicant would be part of the Government Digital Service team at DSIT.
It is also understood the government is looking for a government chief data officer to replace Craig Suckling, though no details have yet been confirmed.
AI at the heart of UK government transformation drive
The move to introduce a CAIO role follows a series of announcements by the UK government that put digital transformation and AI at the heart of plans to reform public services.
In January, the UK’s prime minister Keir Starmer launched an AI Opportunities Action Plan to “mainline AI into the veins” of the country. The following month, the government published its AI playbook, which consisted of input from 20 government departments and public sector organisations, along with insights and peer-review from industry and academic advisers.
It also plans to use £42m (US$54m) of its £3.25bn (US$4.2bn) ‘transformation fund’ to invest in three DSIT-led ‘Frontier AI Exemplars’ to make government operations more efficient and effective. In addition to this, £8m (US$10m) will be spent on procuring technology for the Ministry of Justice to relieve probation officers from administrative tasks such as form filling.
Meanwhile, a new directorate tasked with identifying the best ways to scale AI in local government services has been set up by the UK’s Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), and the government’s Incubator for AI is working with MHCLG to develop an AI tool that helps councils make better and faster planning decisions.
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Following global examples
The UK is the latest country to have hired or be looking to hire a chief AI officer or minister to oversee the development and use of the technology in the government and wider public sector.
In the US federal government, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) appointed Lisa Einstein as its first chief artificial intelligence officer in August 2024, under president Biden. It said at the time that the move signalled its “commitment to responsibly use AI to advance its cyber defence mission”.
Although it has been reported that Einstein is no longer serving in the role following the transition to president Donald Trump, the Trump administration has called on federal agencies to name their own chief AI officers.
In October last year, France announced Clara Chappaz as its first AI minister.
Chappaz said in a post on LinkedIn at the time that the role would enhance her “commitment to public action” in the areas of digital and AI.
Her appointment followed comments by French president Emmanuel Macron in which he described the global race to advance in AI “an existential battle, on which our ability to create wealth will depend”. He also said his ambition was to turn Paris into a globally recognised AI hub.
In the United Arab Emirates, Omar bin Sultan Al Olama became the minister of state for artificial intelligence in 2017. According to the World Economic Forum, he is responsible for “enhancing government performance by investing [in] the latest technologies and tools of artificial intelligence and applying them in various sectors”.
Read more: Why public legitimacy for AI in the public sector isn’t just a ‘nice to have’
About Jack Aldane
Jack is a British journalist, cartoonist and podcaster. He graduated from Heythrop College London in 2009 with a BA in philosophy, before living and working in China for three years as a freelance reporter. After training in financial journalism at City University from 2013 to 2014, Jack worked at Bloomberg and Thomson Reuters before moving into editing magazines on global trade and development finance. Shortly after editing opinion writing for UnHerd, he joined the independent think tank ResPublica, where he led a media campaign to change the health and safety requirements around asbestos in UK public buildings. As host and producer of The Booking Club podcast – a conversation series featuring prominent authors and commentators at their favourite restaurants – Jack continues to engage today’s most distinguished thinkers on the biggest problems pertaining to ideology and power in the 21st century. He joined Global Government Forum as its Senior Staff Writer and Community Co-ordinator in 2021.
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