How Andy Burnham can use AI to make government smarter, with Geoff Mulgan

<p>The UK government is under immense pressure to respond to geopolitical instability, financial pressures and rapid technological change - but traditional policymaking methods are struggling to keep pace. AI has the potential to transform how government makes decisions, delivers public services and responds to a rapidly changing world - but what would a smart AI-enabled state actually look like? And is the government ready to adopt and embed AI?</p><p>With Andy Burnham now two-thirds of the way through his first 100 days in Downing Street, AI is a topic he has already had to face head-on. But might Burnham&#39;s new government use AI to build a smarter, more agile state?</p><p>To dive into this question, Nesta CEO Ravi Gurumurthy sat down with Professor Geoff Mulgan, former head of the Number 10 Strategy Unit, on our deep-dive series from the Policy Fix podcast: Andy Burnham&#39;s first 100 days.</p><p>Our duo discuss the areas where AI could transform policymaking, allowing civil servants to analyse evidence, test ideas and model scenarios at speed - and why avoiding AI-dependence while keeping human judgement intact is critical.</p><p>The conversation explores what an AI-enabled government could mean for Andy Burnham&#39;s approach to public control, how AI could make regulators smarter, whether public services could continuously learn and improve and what a more democratic alternative to centralised, authoritarian uses of AI might look like.</p><p>So, as Andy Burnham approaches the end of his first 100 days, what could he do to start modernising the state with AI? Listen to our latest episode to find out.</p><p>Chapters<br>00:00 Introduction<br>00:41 Designing policymaking for the AI era<br>06:16 Will AI create overconfident generalists?<br>07:31 Using AI in the spending review<br>11:03 How AI could fix meetings<br>14:12 Leapfrogging Westminster<br>15:47 Can AI make state planning work?<br>19:57 Smarter regulators<br>21:56 A democratic alternative to authoritarian AI<br>23:41 Global governance of AI<br>27:34 Public services that continuously learn<br>32:38 How many civil servants should there be?<br>34:11 The one thing Burnham should do</p><p>Liked the episode? Rate, review, subscribe – and share it with your network.</p><p>Watch the full series on YouTube: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfr-pIsrx5ko">https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfr-pIsrx5ko</a><br>Find out more about Nesta: <a href="https://www.nesta.org.uk">https://www.nes