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Artificial intelligence could create “cracks in the very foundations” of the UK economy by replacing jobs and putting pressure on the welfare system, former government minister Darren Jones has warned.
Jones, who served as chief secretary under former Prime Minister Keir Starmer, said the government needed to “get ahead of the curve” as businesses increasingly adopt the technology, according to The Times.
Writing in the newspaper, he said AI could increase productivity and potentially lead to higher wages or a four-day working week. However, its rapid development could also reduce demand for human workers and increase unemployment.
Impact on jobs and welfare
“If the pace of AI development is maintained, and businesses integrate it effectively, we could see cracks in the very foundations of the UK economy,” Jones wrote.
He warned that a substantial fall in employment would mean fewer people paying taxes while demand for welfare support increased. Jones also questioned whether the current welfare system could adequately support people with relatively high salaries and expensive mortgages if they lost their jobs.
The former minister further asked what the government could offer young people “if there simply are not enough jobs to go round.”
Calls for long-term planning
Jones called for wider consideration of the future of the UK’s social contract. He suggested that the Office for Budget Responsibility should include the potential economic effects of AI in its 10-year forecasts.
He said falling tax revenues, rising economic inactivity and increased welfare spending would be particularly difficult to manage while the government was already walking what he described as a “fiscal tightrope.”
