Sunak eyes Songkick founder to chair authorities's AI taskforce

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The prime minister is lining up a know-how entrepreneur who co-founded the music business enterprise Songkick to spearhead a Β£100m authorities taskforce set as much as forge Britain's future synthetic intelligence functionality.

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Sky News has learnt that Ian Hogarth, who's now an investor in dozens of start-ups, is a number one candidate to chair the Foundation Models Taskforce (FMT), which was unveiled by Rishi Sunak in April.

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One Whitehall supply stated Mr Hogarth had emerged because the frontrunner for the submit in latest days.

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The Foundation Models Taskforce is being established to speed up the UK's adoption of secure AI fashions in areas such because the 'massive language' platforms - like ChatGPT and Google's Bard - which have develop into the topic of intense scrutiny in latest months.

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The authorities intends that it's modelled on the COVID Vaccines Taskforce, and is prone to allocate further funding to it in future, in line with the supply.

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"The taskforce will play a crucial role in ensuring the major, multi-year funding announced at the budget for compute is strategically invested to prioritise and strengthen the UK's capability in foundation models," the federal government stated in April.

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Last week, Mr Sunak held talks with the US President, Joe Biden, to debate the longer term alternatives and threats posed by AI.

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More on Artificial Intelligence

The authorities subsequently introduced that Britain would host a world summit within the autumn to debate the regulatory "guardrails" that can mitigate future dangers from the know-how.

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The prime minister is set to ascertain the UK as a world hub for the event of AI know-how, and in addition for its oversight, as he seeks to show that post-Brexit Britain might be a world vacation spot for main tech funding.

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At the time of the FMT's unveiling, Mr Sunak stated: "Harnessing the potential of AI provides enormous opportunities to grow our economy, create better-paid jobs, and build a better future through advances in healthcare and security.

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"By investing in rising applied sciences by means of our new professional taskforce, we are able to proceed to prepared the ground in creating secure and reliable AI as a part of shaping a extra progressive UK financial system."

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In the past month, he has met the bosses of tech giants including OpenAI and Google's parent, Alphabet, to discuss the sudden explosion of AI adoption across the economy.

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Last week, another entrepreneur, Matt Clifford, who chairs the government's Advanced Research and Innovation Agency, issued another warning about the technology.

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"If we try to create synthetic intelligence that's extra clever than people and we do not know management it, then that is going to create a possible for all types of dangers now and sooner or later... it is proper that it must be very excessive on the policymakers' agendas," he said.

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Mr Clifford is also advising on the establishment of the FMT, according to the government's announcement in April.

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A government insider said Mr Hogarth's appointment could yet fall through, but that it was expected to be finalised shortly, with London Tech Week being staged this week.

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Mr Hogarth is a visiting professor of practice at the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP), and an investor in more than 40 start-ups, according to an online biography.

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He is also a partner at Plural Platforms, a venture capital firm.

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He orchestrated the sale of Songkick, following an anti-trust case which resulted in Ticketmaster paying a $130m settlement.

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A government spokesperson said: "The recruitment course of for the chair of the Foundation Models Taskforce stays ongoing."

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