The UK’s national institute for artificial intelligence and data science has launched a consultation process that could lead to redundancies among its 440 employees.
In a memo sent to staff this month, the Alan Turing Institute gave an update on its new strategy, which says it will focus on fewer projects.
It was aimed at “affected employees” and stated that the government-backed institute “may have to consider layoffs.” According to informal staff estimates, the memo could have been sent to as many as 140 people.
The internal document said the institute, which conducts research with universities, the private sector and government entities, was working on 111 live projects and needed to “stop participating in a large number of individual projects.”
Last year, the institute unveiled a new strategy called “Turing 2.0” in which it would focus on three key areas: health, environment, and defense and security. However, the organization said there was now “less core funding than assumed when the strategy was drafted”.
He said the institute had examined which of the 111 projects were “strategically aligned” with the Turing 2.0 push and launched a process that could involve extending or closing the projects.
“This means, unfortunately, that we may have to consider layoffs,” the memo said.
It said it would explore ways to avoid forced redundancies and hold elections for workers’ representatives in the discussions. The consulting process with employees is expected to be completed in February next year.
The institute’s chief executive, Dr Jean Innes, told The Guardian: “The purpose of Turing is to make great strides in the development and use of data science and AI to change the world for the better and, in line with “This, we are shaping an ambitious new phase for the institute, as we aim to use these technologies to address some of the most important problems facing society.”
The institute, named after the British mathematician considered the father of modern computing, was founded in 2015 as a national data science institute before adding AI to its remit in 2017.
Its goals include “promoting world-class research and applying it to national and global challenges,” as well as driving an “informed public conversation” about AI. Its five founding universities were Cambridge, Oxford, Edinburgh, UCL and Warwick.
The possibility of job cuts at the institute comes as the government prepares to make two key announcements on the technology.
It is preparing to launch an “AI action plan” under the tech entrepreneur Matt Clifford which will look at how AI can stimulate economic growth and improve public services.
A consultation on a draft AI bill is also due to be published which will reportedly focus on making a voluntary AI model testing agreement between the UK government and technology companies legally binding, as well as making the UK AI Safety Institute a separate organization from the Turing Institute. – a independent government body.
