Meta’s bid to deploy its artificial intelligence system in the UK public sector has taken a step forward after the tech giant awarded development funding to technology aimed at reducing NHS A&E waiting times.
Amid rival efforts by Silicon Valley tech companies to collaborate with national and local government, Meta hosted its first “hackathon” in Europe, asking more than 200 programmers to come up with ways to use the Llama AI system in the British public services. , “focused on the priorities of the Labor Party”.
The event took place after it emerged that Palantir, another US technology company, has lobbied the Justice Department and government ministers, including Chancellor Rachel Reeves. Microsoft also recently signed a five-year deal with Whitehall departments to supply its AI Copilot technology to civil servants.
Meta’s hackathon was addressed by Nick Clegg, the former deputy prime minister and now Meta’s president of global affairs, based in California. The UK AI Minister, Feryal Clark, said that “the government can adopt AI, such as Meta’s open source model, to support our most important missions”.
When asked what Meta involved in providing the free technology, Clegg said: “It is indirectly in our long-term interest to see this ecosystem of llama-based innovation because it then makes it much easier for us to reinvent innovations to integrate them into our own products.”
The push in Silicon Valley comes from concerns about the safety of AI, especially in public services where clients may lack expertise or take too much time to conduct due diligence. But Clegg argued that fears about the risks of AI were exaggerated.
“Who knows, maybe AI will start to develop a mind of its own and want to turn us into paper clips by next Tuesday,” he said. “But I think the technology right now is much more primitive than many of the fears suggest.”
Clark played down fears that Labor could impose tough red tape, saying that while the government would “not shy away from the significant risk that AI poses”, it would “ensure that any regulation we introduce is proportionate , supports innovation and does not impose an unnecessary burden on the economy.” company”.
Last week, Peter Kyle, the Secretary of State for Science and Technology, admitted that the government was treating the tech giants with “humility” as they outpaced the UK government in investment in innovation.
“We must apply a sense of statesmanship in working with companies that we have historically reserved for dealing with other states,” he said.
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The moves to promote Meta’s open-source AI platform for public sector use follow growing concerns about the influence of tech giants. The role Elon Musk’s X platform played in the US presidential election and the involvement of social media in fueling the August riots in Britain added to the concerns.
Asked about the approach of Meta, which runs Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, Clegg drew a clear contrast between Meta and X on the way content is handled.
“Our practices are completely different,” he says. “If you look at the British riots, most of the people who caused a real problem were figures like Tommy Robinson, who has long been banned from our platform, or Andrew Tate. That is not the case with Telegram, and not with X.”