Fewer potholes, quicker access to a hospital bed, a job with Microsoft – these are just a few of the benefits the government hopes artificial intelligence (AI) will bring to the people of Barnsley after it was chosen as Britain’s first “tech town”.
The announcement does not mean a massive investment of new money but rather an agreement in principle that the South Yorkshire borough will embrace AI in “every aspect” of life, Technology Secretary Liz Kendall told The i Paper.
Lessons learned from the pilot in Barnsley could mean AI will then be rolled out to public services across the country in the coming years.
Residents, businesses and public sector leaders were broadly supportive of the idea when The i Paper visited the town, but there was also a notable sense of caution.
Several spoke of the need for “a human eye” to watch over the work of AI as it is given access to some of the most sensitive information imaginable.
Barnsley’s local leaders are hoping AI will fix problems from potholes to social care (Photo: tupungato/iStock/Getty)Barnsley Council is currently utilising AI in adult and children’s services, as well as the Legal department. Meanwhile, in the local hospital, AI tools have access to patients’ medical records.
Kendall promised “safeguards” to make sure people are “safe and secure”, but admitted that the Government may need to look at further legislation and regulation.
Government will look at more AI legislation
It comes after Grok, the AI tool developed for Elon Musk’s X platform, caused widespread anger by allowing users to create nude or sexualised images of women and girls without their consent.
The feature was eventually turned off following sustained criticism from leaders in Britain and around the globe and Kendall argues that Labour stood up to Musk.
“What did this government do? We said ‘no’, we said ‘it’s against British values and it’s against British law’, and we said we will back Ofcom to use full powers to enforce this because it was illegal,” she said.
Kendall says Barnsley will embrace AI in ‘every aspect’ of life (Photo: Alecsandra Dragoi/DSIT)Kendall said at the time she would support Ofcom to make use of its full powers under the Online Safety Act which include fining companies 10 per cent of revenue and applying to the court to shut their websites down.
But she added that AI “must be safe” and that “if there are gaps” in legislation, the government will “act”.
Kendall said: “AI is going change how we earn, how we learn, and how we live.“Change is inevitable, but the consequences are not, and this government is not a bystander.”
‘There’s some places you don’t want AI’
Liam Busby, 17, is hoping to study AI and Robotics at university (Photo: The i Paper)Liam Busby, a 17-year-old studying software and AI at Barnsley College, understands exactly why the Government needs to be careful with this emerging technology.
When Kendall visited his class, he demonstrated how he was able to build an AI “agent” to give students advice on how to prepare for an interview in a matter of minutes.
Busby wants to go on to a degree in AI and Robotics at Hull University and believes he could get a job in the nuclear industry building robots that can safely deal with nuclear waste so that humans don’t have to put themselves in danger.
But equally, he doesn’t believe AI is “useful in every field of work.”
He said: “There are some places where you don’t want AI to be doing stuff, there are some places where you want it heavily restricted, one of those situations is aviation.
“AI is a tool at the minute and it can make lots of mistakes, whereas fields like aviation are very critical; there are many lives at stake and things can be dangerous.
“It needs to be heavily monitored and restricted.”
His friend Ben Burke, who is hoping to get onto the same university course, demonstrated how AI was able to do much of the work needed to design a new website.
“It’s taken about 20 minutes; it would normally take me around 20 hours to do that,” said Burke.
“It is quite shocking how it comes out with all this so quickly.”
Burke, 17, said he hopes AI can bring new jobs to Barnsley (Photo: The i Paper)Burke said his AI tool will become “more reliable” the more it is used but he also conceded it is “never going to be perfect”.
“AI can’t be responsible for the final product,” he added.
“It can’t replace people in the way some people think it will – there’s always got to be a person who has to finish the job.”
The idea of new technology and an increasingly globalised economy taking jobs is not new to Barnsley.
The town lost as many as 30,000 coal mining jobs when Margaret Thatcher closed the pits in the 1980s.
Local leaders are now determined that leaning into emerging technologies such as AI will enable Barnsley to offer opportunities to the next generation.
“We are an ex-mining town,” said Burke. “I go past one of the pits every day on my way into college”, said Burke.
“For someone like me interested in technology, there’s always something on here.”
Businesses ‘concerned’ about AI having their data
One local business hoping to make the most of the AI boom is Anchor Vine, an AI-powered business support platform.
Co-founder Richard Downs told The i Paper that there needs to be more education around AI safety so that businesses understand what they are dealing with.
“Whether you use Google Docs to store all your documentation or Xero as your accountancy platform that’s got all your financial information,” he said.
“I think AI is going to bring it to the forefront, security and especially access to data.”
Downs said in the early days of his business, there were “a lot of concerns” among clients that AI would allow one company to access the data of another.
He says that is a “myth”, but it is still something he has to address with customers.
“It’s got easier,” said Downs.
The town is hoping AI can be used to measure its road surfaces for defects (Photo: Michael Garner/iStock/Getty)“I think as soon as we explain that we use special avenues to talk to the AI, which means your data doesn’t go into the public realm and the training data, they get calm.”
While businesses may see the commercial opportunity in using AI, there are different incentives for those working in the public sector.
Tom Davidson, director of ICT at Barnsley Hospital, said his trust is already using AI to predict things like the number of patients that will arrive at A&E on a given day and how many beds will be needed.
But medical bosses are already going further with AI being used to assess patients and take notes from their visits to a GP.
“Based on this person’s observations, their modalities, all the things they’re struggling with, what’s the likelihood of them having a fall?”, he said.
“They’ve not seen a clinician yet, but if it’s saying there’s a risk, they might need to be seen quicker.
“It’s guessing what’s going to happen next.”
Doctors must ‘sign off’ AI in hospitals
Davidson said while some AI tools used by the NHS are those freely offered by the likes of Microsoft, Google and IBM, others need to go through a strict vetting procedure to become what is known as a ‘medically registered device’.
“With any AI, it needs to be clinically governed,” he said.
“All of this has to have a clinical sign-off.
“It’s down to local organisation to ensure they’ve got the right information going into processes.
“We have processes and checks with the supplier and very tight contracts about what they can and can’t do with that data.
“If they are going to use that data and change that data on our behalf, that’s one thing; if they’re going use that for something further, that’s absolutely forbidden, they can’t do it as part of the contract.”
Kendall has promised ‘safeguards’ relating to AI to make sure people are ‘safe and secure’ (Photo: Alecsandra Dragoi/DSIT)Sir Stephen Houghton, the Labour leader of Barnsley council, is a firm believer that AI can revolutionise life for people in the borough, either through their use of public services or job opportunities.
The council has been an early and enthusiastic adopter of Microsoft’s AI tool Copilot.
“In children’s social care and adult social care, a lot of the day-to-day report writing, note taking, analysis, AI will do it for us,” he said.
“That frees up staff to spend more time with children, more time with adults, getting the quality service that people are looking for.
“It’s saving money as well in terms of administration.
“We’re even getting to a point where our dustbin vehicles will have technology underneath and they’ll measure the road surfaces for us.
“So every day we’ll know where our potholes are, we’ll know the state of the roads in an instant.”
Houghton says there have yet to be any “mishaps” in the council’s use of AI but admitted it is something that cannot be ruled out in future.
“There’s always going to be scope for that, nothing’s perfect,” he said.
“But this isn’t a bit of a free-for-all, just put it in and see what happens.
“It’s been a proper, measured programme that we know where we’re at.
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“And equally, there’s always that sense check.
“It [AI] may do the spadework for you, but always check it at the end of it.
“So a human eye is still keeping a watchful eye over the system.”
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